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THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 


Ft 


BOOKS  BY  RUDYARD  KIPLING 


Actions  and  Reactions 

The  Brushwood  Boy 

Captains  Courageous 

Collected  Verse 

The  Day's  Work 

Departmental  Ditties  and  Ballads  and  Barrack- 
Room  Ballads 

The  Five  Nations 

From  Sea  to  Sea 

A  History  of  England.     (In  Collaboration  with 
C.  R.  L.  Fletcher) 

If 

The  Jungle  Book 

The  Second  Jungle  Book 

Just  So  Stories 

Kim 

Life's  Handicap:  Being  Stories  of  Mine  Own  People 

The  Light  That  Failed 

Many  Inventions 

The  Naulahka:  A  Story  of  the  West  and  East 
(Written  with  Wolcott  Balestier) 

Plain  Tales  from  the  Hills 

Puck  of  Pook's  Hill 

Rewards  and  Fairies 

The  Seven  Seas 

Soldier  Stories 

Soldiers  Three,  The  Story  of  the  Gadsbys,  and 
In  Black  and  White 

The  Song  of  the  English 

Songs  from  Books 

Stalky  &  Co. 

They 

Traffics  and  Discoveries 

Under  the  Deodars,  The  Phantom  'Rickshaw,  and 
Wee  Willie  Winkie 

With  the  Night  Mail 


"LITTLE    TOOMAI    LAID    HIMSELF    DOWN    CLOSE    TO    THE   GREAT    NECK 

LEST    A    SWINGING    BOUGH    SHOULD    SWEEP    HIM    TO 

THE    GROUND."       (SEE    PAGE  246. x 


THE 

JUNGLE    BOOK 


BY 


RUDYARD    KIPLING 


^g&t&M 


NEW  YORK 

THE    CENTURY   CO. 

1918 


Copyright  1893,  1894,  by 

Rudyard  Kipling 

Copyright,  1894,  by 

Harper  and  Brothers 

Copyright  1893,  1894,  by 

The  Century  Co„ 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Mowgli's  Brothers       i 

hunting-song  of  the  seeonee  pack  .....  42 

Kaa's  Hunting .    .  47 

Road-Song  of  the  Bandar-log 89 

Tiger  !  Tiger  !  " 93 

Mowgli's  Song 131 

The  White  Seal 137 

lukannon i70 

"  RlKKI-TIKKI-TAVI  " 175 

Darzee's   Chaunt 212 

Toomai  of  the  Elephants      217 

Shiv  and  the  Grasshopper 261 

Her  Majesty's  Servants 265 

Parade-Song  of  the  Camp  Animals    ......  300 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGI 


"  Little  Toomai  laid  himself  down  close  to  the 
great  Neck,  lest  a  swinging  Bough  should 
sweep  him  to  the  ground" frontispiece 

"  '  Good    Luck    go    with    you,    O    Chief    of    the 

Wolves  '  " 5 

"The  Tiger's  Roar  filled  the  Cave  with  Thun- 
der"             11 

The  Meeting  at  the  Council  Rock 17 

"  Bagheera  would  lie  out  on  a  Branch  and  call, 

'  Come  along,  Little  Brother  '  " 23 

"'Wake,  Little  Brother;  I  bring  News'"     ...      99 

"'Are  all  these  Tales  such  Cobwebs  and  Moon- 
Talk?'  said   Mowgli  " 105 

"  buldeo  lay  as  still  as  still,  expecting  every  mln- 

ute  to  see   Mowgli   turn  into  a  Tiger,  too"  121 

"  When  the  Moon  rose  over  the  Plain  the  Vil- 
lagers saw  Mowgli  trotting  across,  with  two 
Wolves  at  his  Heels" 126 

"  They  clambered  up  on  the  Council  Rock  to- 
gether, and  Mowgli  spread  the  Skin  out  on 
the  flat  Stone" 129 


xii  LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

"Ten  Fathoms  Deep" „    .    146 

"  They  were  all  awake  and  staring  in  every  Di- 
rection   BUT   THE    RIGHT   ONE  " 154 

"  He  had  found  Sea  Cow  at  last  " 162 

"  RlKKI-TIKKI   LOOKED   DOWN    BETWEEN    THE   Boy's  COL- 
LAR and  Neck" 177 

"He  put  his  Nose  into  the  Ink" 178 

"  rlkki-tikki  was  awake  on  the  plllow  "    ....     1 79 
"  He  came  to  Breakfast  riding  on  Teddy's  Shoul- 
der"  180 

"'We  are  very  miserable,'  said  Darzee"    ....     181 
" '  I  am  Nag,'  said  the  Cobra  :  '  Look,  and  be  afraid.' 
But  at  the  Bottom  of  his  cold  Heart  he_  was 

AFRAID  "         , 183 

"  He  jumped  up  in  the  Air,  and  just  under  him 

whizzed  by  the  head  of  nagaina  "».,..  187 
"  In   the   Dark   he   ran   up  against  Chuchundra, 

the  muskrat" 192 

"  Then   Rikki-tikki   was   battered   to  and  fro  as 

a  rat  is  shaken  by  a  dog "     .........     197 

Darzee's  Wife  pretends  to  have  a  broken  Wing  .  201 
"  nagaina  flew  down  the   path  with  rlkki-tikki 

behind  her' 207 

"  It  is  all  over  " 210 

"  Kala  Nag  was  the  best-loved  Elephant   in  the 

Service" 219 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

PAGB 

" '  He  is  afraid  of  me/  said  Little  Toomai,  and 
he  made  kala  nag  lift  up  his  feet  one 
after  the  other  " 223 

"  He  would  get  his  Torch  and  wave  it,  and  yell 

with  the  Best" 229 

«  '  Not  green  Corn,  Protector  of  the  Poor, — Mel- 
ons/ said  Little  Toomai  " 235 

;'  Little  Toomai  looked  down  upon  Scores  and 
Scores  of  broad  Backs" 251 

"*To  Toomai  of  the  Elephants.    Barrao!'"  ...     259 

"  A  Camel  had  blundered  into  my  Tent  ".....    267 

" '  Anybody  can  be  forgiven  for  being  scared  in  the 

Night/ said  the  Troop-horse  " 275 

" '  The    Man    was    lying    on    the    Ground,   and    I 

STRETCHED  MYSELF  NOT  TO  TREAD  ON  HIM,  AND 

HE  SLASHED  UP  AT  ME  '  "    279 

"  Then  I  heard  an  old,  grizzled,  long-haired  Cen- 
tral Asian  Chief  asking  Questions  of  a  native 
Officer"     .................    297 


THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 


Now  Rann,   the  Kite,  brings  home  the  night 

That  Mang,  the  Bat,  sets  free  — 
The  herds  are  shut  in  byre  and  hut, 

For  loosed  till  dawn  are  we. 
This  is  the  hour  of  pride  and  power, 

Talon  and  tush  and  claw. 
Oh,  hear  the  call! — Good  hunting  all 

That  keep  the  Jungle  Law  ! 

Night-Song  in  the  Jtingle 


f\-X-'\  \f\  \  k-    \  v  \    v    •    •*  v 


MOWGLI'S  BROTHERS 


IT  was  seven  o'clock  of  a  very  warm  evening  in 
the  Seeonee  hills  when  Father  Wolf  woke  up 
from  his  day's  rest,  scratched  himself,  yawned, 
and  spread  out  his  paws  one  after  the  other  to 
get  rid  of  the  sleepy  feeling  in  the  tips.  Mother 
Wolf  lay  with  her  big  gray  nose  dropped  across 
her  four  tumbling,  squealing  cubs,  and  the  moon 
shone  into  the  mouth  of  the  cave  where  they  all 
lived.  "Augrh  !"  said  Father  Wolf,  "  it  is  time  to 
hunt  again  "  ;  and  he  was  going  to  spring  down- 
hill when  a  little  shadow  with  a  bushy  tail  crossed 
the  threshold  and  whined :  "  Good  luck  go  with 
you,  O  Chief  of  the  Wolves ;  and  good  luck  and 
strong  white   teeth  go  with  the  noble  children, 


2  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

that  they  may  never  forget  the  hungry  in  this 
world." 

It  was  the  jackal — Tabaqui,  the  Dish-licker  — 
and  the  wolves  of  India  despise  Tabaqui  because 
he  runs  about  making  mischief,  and  telling  tales, 
and  eating  rags  and  pieces  of  leather  from  the 
village  rubbish-heaps.  They  are  afraid  of  him 
too,  because  Tabaqui,  more  than  any  one  else  in 
the  jungle,  is  apt  to  go  mad,  and  then  he  forgets 
that  he  was  ever  afraid  of  any  one,  and  runs 
through  the  forest  biting  everything  in  his  way. 
Even  the  tiger  hides  when  little  Tabaqui  goes 
mad,  for  madness  is  the  most  disgraceful  thing 
that  can  overtake  a  wild  creature.  We  call  it 
hydrophobia,  but  they  call  it  dewanee  —  the 
madness  —  and  run. 

"  Enter,  then,  and  look,"  said  Father  Wolf, 
stiffly;    "but  there    is   no   food   here." 

"For  a  wolf,  no,"  said  Tabaqui;  "but  for  so 
mean  a  person  as  myself  a  dry  bone  is  a  good 
feast.  Who  are  we,  the  Gidur-log  [the  Jackal 
People],  to  pick  and  choose?"  He  scuttled  to 
the  back  of  the  cave,  where  he  found  the  bone  of 
a  buck  with  some  meat  on  it,  and  sat  cracking 
the  end  merrily. 

"All  thanks  for  this  good  meal,"  he  said,  lick- 
ing his  lips.      "  How  beautiful  are  the  noble  chil 


MOWGLPS   BROTHERS  3 

dren  !  How  large  are  their  eyes  !  And  so  young 
too !  Indeed,  indeed,  I  might  have  remembered 
that  the  children  of  kings  are  men  from  the 
beginning." 

Now,  Tabaqui  knew  as  well  as  any  one  else 
that  there  is  nothing  so  unlucky  as  to  com- 
pliment children  to  their  faces ;  and  it  pleased 
him  to  see  Mother  and  Father  Wolf  look  un- 
comfortable. 

Tabaqui  sat  still,  rejoicing  in  the  mischief  that 
he  had  made,  and  then  he  said  spitefully : 

"  Shere  Khan,  the  Big  One,  has  shifted  his 
hunting-grounds.  He  will  hunt  among  these 
hills  during  the  next  moon,  so  he  has  told  me." 

Shere  Khan  was  the  tiger  who  lived  near  the 
Waingunga  River,  twenty  miles  away. 

"He  has  no  right!"  Father  Wolf  began 
angrily.  "  By  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  he  has  no 
right  to  change  his  quarters  without  fair  warning. 
He  will  frighten  every  head  of  game  within  ten 
miles ;  and  I — I  have  to  kill  for  two,  these  days." 

"  His  mother  did  not  call  him  Lungri  [the  Lame 
One]  for  nothing,"  said  Mother  Wolf,  quietly. 
"  He  has  been  lame  in  one  foot  from  his  birth. 
That  is  why  he  has  only  killed  cattle.  Now  the 
villagers  of  the  Waingunga  are  angry  with  him, 
and  he  has  come  here   to   make   our  villagers 


4  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

angry.  They  will  scour  the  jungle  for  him  when 
he  is  far  away,  and  we  and  our  children  must  run 
when  the  grass  is  set  alight.  Indeed,  we  are 
very  grateful  to  Shere  Khan  !  " 

"Shall  I  tell  him  of  your  gratitude?"  said 
Tabaqui. 

"Out!"  snapped  Father  Wolf.  "Out,  and 
hunt  with  thy  master.  Thou  hast  done  harm 
enough  for  one  night." 

"  I  go,"  said  Tabaqui,  quietly.  "  Ye  can  hear 
Shere  Khan  below  in  the  thickets.  I  might  have 
saved  myself  the  message." 

Father  Wolf  listened,  and  in  the  dark  valley 
that  ran  down  to  a  little  river,  he  heard  the  dry, 
angry,  snarly,  singsong  whine  of  a  tiger  who  has 
caught  nothing  and  does  not  care  if  all  the  jungle 
knows  it. 

"  The  fool !  "  said  Father  Wolf.  "  To  begin  a 
night's  work  with  that  noise !  Does  he  think 
that  our  buck  are  like  his  fat  Waingunga  bul- 
locks ?  " 

"  H'sh  !  It  is  neither  bullock  nor  buck  that  he 
hunts  to-night,"  said  Mother  Wolf;  "  it  is  Mai  ." 
The  whine  had  changed  to  a  sort  of  humming 
purr  that  seemed  to  roll  from  every  quarter  of 
the  compass.  It  was  the  noise  that  bewilders 
wood-cutters,  and  gipsies  sleeping  in  the  open, 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  7 

and  makes  them  run  sometimes  into  the  very 
mouth  of  the  tig-en 

"  Man ! "  said  Father  Wolf,  showing  all  his 
white  teeth.  "Faugh!  Are  there  not  enough 
beetles  and  frogs  in  the  tanks  that  he  must  eat 
Man  —  and  on  our  ground  too  !  " 

The  Law  of  the  Jungle,  which  never  orders 
anything  without  a  reason,  forbids  every  beast  to 
eat  Man  except  when  he  is  killing  to  show  his 
children  how  to  kill,  and  then  he  must  hunt  out- 
side the  hunting-grounds  of  his  pack  or  tribe. 
The  real  reason  for  this  is  that  man- killing 
means,  sooner  or  later,  the  arrival  of  white  men 
on  elephants,  with  guns,  and  hundreds  of  brown 
men  with  gongs  and  rockets  and  torches.  Then 
everybody  in  the  jungle  suffers.  The  reason  the 
beasts  give  among  themselves  is  that  Man  is  the 
weakest  and  most  defenseless  of  all  living  things, 
and  it  is  unsportsmanlike  to  touch  him.  They 
say  too  —  and  it  is  true  —  that  man-eaters  be- 
come mangy,  and  lose  their  teeth. 

The  purr  grew  louder,  and  ended  in  the  full- 
throated  "  Aaarh  !  "  of  the  tiger's  charge. 

Then  there  was  a  howl  —  an  untigerish  howl 
—  from  Shere  Khan.  "  He  has  missed,"  said 
Mother  Wolf.     "  What  is  it  ? " 

Father  Wolf  ran  out  a  few  paces  and  heard 


8  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

Shere  Khan  muttering  and  mumbling  savagely, 
as  he  tumbled  about  in   the  scrub. 

"The  fool  has  had  no  more  sense  than  to 
jump  at  a  wood-cutters'  camp-fire,  so  he  has 
burned  his  feet,"  said  Father  Wolf,  with  a  grunt. 
"  Tabaqui  is  with  him." 

"  Something  is  coming  uphill,"  said  Mother 
Wolf,  twitching  one  ear.      "  Get  ready." 

The  bushes  rustled  a  little  in  the  thicket,  and 
Father  Wolf  dropped  with  his  haunches  under 
him,  ready  for  his  leap.  Then,  if  you  had  been 
watching,  you  would  have  seen  the  most  wonder- 
ful thing  in  the  world — the  wolf  checked  in  mid- 
spring.  He  made  his  bound  before  he  saw  what 
it  was  he  was  jumping  at,  and  then  he  tried  to 
stop  himself.  The  result  was  that  he  shot  up 
straight  into  the  air  for  four  or  five  feet,  landing 
almost  where  he  left  ground. 

"  Man  !  "  he  snapped.    "  A  man's  cub.    Look  !" 

Directly  in  front  of  him,  holding  on  by  a  low 
branch,  stood  a  naked  brown  baby  who  could  just 
walk — as  soft  and  as  dimpled  a  little  thing  as 
ever  came  to  a  wolf's  cave  at  night.  He  looked 
up  into  Father  Wolf's  face  and  laughed. 

"  Is  that  a  man's  cub  ?  "  said  Mother  Wolf.  "  I 
have  never  seen  one.     Bring  it  here." 

A   wolf  accustomed   to  moving  his  own  cubs 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  g 

can,  if  necessary,  mouth  an  egg  without  breaking 
it,  and  though  Father  Wolf's  jaws  closed  right 
on  the  child's  back  not  a  tooth  even  scratched 
the  skin,  as  he  laid  it  down  among  the  cubs. 

"  How  little  !  How  naked,  and — how  bold  !  " 
said  Mother  Wolf,  softly.  The  baby  was  push- 
ing his  way  between  the  cubs  to  get  close  to  the 
warm  hide.  "  Ahai !  He  is  taking-  his  meal  with 
the  others.  And  so  this  is  a  man's  cub.  Now, 
was  there  ever  a  wolf  that  could  boast  of  a  man's 
cub  among  her  children  ?  " 

"  I  have  heard  now  and  again  of  such  a  thing, 
but  never  in  our  pack  or  in  my  time,"  said  Fa- 
ther Wolf.  "  He  is  altogether  without  hair,  and 
I  could  kill  him  with  a  touch  of  my  foot.  But 
see,   he  looks  up  and  is  not  afraid." 

The  moonlight  was  blocked  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  cave,  for  Shere  Khan's  great  square  head 
and  shoulders  were  thrust  into  the  entrance. 
Tabaqui,  behind  him,  was  squeaking:  "  My  Lord, 
my  Lord,  it  went  in  here  !  " 

"  Shere  Khan  does  us  great  honor,"  said 
Father  Wolf,  but  his  eyes  were  very  angry. 
"What  does  Shere  Khan  need?" 

"  My  quarry.  A  man's  cub  went  this  way," 
said  Shere  Khan.  "  Its  parents  have  run  off. 
Give  it  to  me." 


io  .  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

Shere  Khan  had  jumped  at  a  wood-cutter's 
camp-fire,  as  Father  Wolf  had  said,  and  was  furi- 
ous from  the  pain  of  his  burned  feet.  But  Father 
Wolf  knew  that  the  mouth  of  the  cave  was  too 
narrow  for  a  tiger  to  come  in  by.  Even  where  he 
was,  Shere  Khan's  shoulders  and  fore  paws  were 
cramped  for  want  of  room,  as  a  man's  would  be 
if  he  tried  to  fight  in  a  barrel. 

"The  Wolves  are  a  free  people,"  said  Father 
Wolf.  "They  take  orders  from  the  Head  of  the 
Pack,  and  not  from  any  striped  cattle-killer.  The 
man's  cub  is  ours — to  kill  if  we  choose." 

"  Ye  choose  and  ye  do  not  choose  !  What  talk 
is  this  of  choosing?  By  the  Bull  that  I  killed,  am 
I  to  stand  nosing  into  your  dog's  den  for  my  fair 
dues?     It  is  I,  Shere  Khan,  who  speak!  " 

The  tiger's  roar  filled  the  cave  with  thunder. 
Mother  Wolf  shook  herself  clear  of  the  cubs  and 
sprang  forward,  her  eyes,  like  two  green  moons 
in  the  darkness,  facing  the  blazing  eyes  of  Shere 
Khan. 

"And  it  is  I,  Raksha  [the  Demon],  who 
answer.  The  man's  cub  is  mine,  Lungri  —  mine 
to  me !  He  shall  not  be  killed.  He  shall  live  to 
run  with  the  Pack  and  to  hunt  with  the  Pack ; 
and  in  the  end,  look  you,  hunter  of  little  nak- 
ed cubs  —  frog-eater  —  fish-killer,  he  shall  hunt 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  13 

thee  !  Now  get  hence,  or  by  the  Sambhur  that  I 
killed  (I  eat  no  starved  cattle),  back  thou  goest 
to  thy  mother,  burned  beast  of  the  jungle,  lamer 
than  ever  thou  earnest  into  the  world  !     Go  !  " 

Father  Wolf  looked  on  amazed.  He  had  al- 
most forgotten  the  days  when  he  won  Mother 
Wolf  in  fair  fight  from  five  other  wolves,  when 
she  ran  in  the  Pack  and  was  not  called  the 
Demon  for  compliment's  sake.  Shere  Khan 
might  have  faced  Father  Wolf,  but  he  could  not 
stand  up  against  Mother  Wolf,  for  he  knew  that 
where  he  was  she  had  all  the  advantage  of  the 
ground,  and  would  fight  to  the  death.  So  he 
backed  out  of  the  cave-mouth  growling,  and 
when  he  was  clear  he  shouted : 

"Each  dog  barks  in  his  own  yard!  We  will 
see  what  the  Pack  will  say  to  this  fostering  of 
man-cubs.  The  cub  is  mine,  and  to  my  teeth  he 
will  come  in  the  end,  O  bush-tailed  thieves  !  " 

Mother  Wolf  threw  herself  down  panting 
among  the  cubs,  and  Father  Wolf  said  to  her 
gravely  : 

"  Shere  Khan  speaks  this  much  truth.  The 
cub  must  be  shown  to  the  Pack.  Wilt  thou 
still  keep    him,  Mother  ?  " 

"  Keep  him  !  "  she  gasped.  "  He  came  naked, 
by  night,    alone  and  very  hungry ;    yet  he   was 


14  THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 

not  afraid !  Look,  he  has  pushed  one  of  my 
babes  to  one  side  already.  And  that  lame  butch- 
er would  have  killed  him,  and  would  have  run  off 
to  the  Waingunga  while  the  villagers  here  hunted 
through  all  our  lairs  in  revenge !  Keep  him  ? 
Assuredly  I  will  keep  him.  Lie  still,  little  frog. 
O  thou  Mowgli — for  Mowgli,  the  Frog,  I  will 
call  thee, — the  time  will  come  when  thou  wilt 
hunt  Shere  Khan  as  he  has  hunted  thee  !" 

"But  what  will  our  Pack  say?"  said  Father 
Wolf. 

The  Law  of  the  Jungle  lays  down  very  clearly 
that  any  wolf  may,  when  he  marries,  withdraw 
from  the  Pack  he  belongs  to ;  but  as  soon  as  his 
cubs  are  old  enough  to  stand  on  their  feet  he 
must  bring  them  to  the  Pack  Council,  which  is 
generally  held  once  a  month  at  full  moon,  in 
order  that  the  other  wolves  may  identify  them. 
After  that  inspection  the  cubs  are  free  to  run 
where  they  please,  and  until  they  have  killed  their 
first  buck  no  excuse  is  accepted  if  a  grown  wolf 
of  the  Pack  kills  one  of  them.  The  punishment 
is  death  where  the  murderer  can  be  found ;  and 
if  you  think  for  a  minute  you  will  see  that  this 
must  be  so. 

Father  Wolf  waited  till  his  cubs  could  run  a 
little,  and  then  on  the  night  of  the  Pack  Meeting 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  15 

took  them  and  Mowgli  and  Mother  Wolf  to  the 
Council  Rock — a  hilltop  covered  with  stones  and 
boulders  where  a  hundred  wolves  could  hide. 
Akela,  the  great  gray  Lone  Wolf,  who  led  all 
the  Pack  by  strength  and  cunning,  lay  out  at  full 
length  on  his  rock,  and  below  him  sat  forty  or 
more  wolves  of  every  size  and  color,  from  badger- 
colored  veterans  who  could  handle  a  buck  alone, 
to  young  black  three-year-olds  who  thought  they 
could.  The  Lone  Wolf  had  led  them  for  a  year 
now.  He  had  fallen  twice  into  a  wolf-trap  in  his 
youth,  and  once  he  had  been  beaten  and  left  for 
dead;  so  he  knew  the  manners  and  customsof  men. 

There  was  very  little  talking  at  the  Rock.  The 
cubs  tumbled  over  one  another  in  the  center  of  the 
circle  where  their  mothers  and  fathers  sat,  and 
now  and  again  a  senior  wolf  would  go  quietly  up 
to  a  cub,  look  at  him  carefully,  and  return  to  his 
place  on  noiseless  feet.  Sometimes  a  mother 
would  push  her  cub  far  out  into  the  moonlight, 
to  be  sure  that  he  had  not  been  overlooked. 
Akela  from  his  rock  would  cry :  "  Ye  know 
the  Law — ye  know  the  Law!  Look  well,  O 
Wolves!"  And  the  anxious  mothers  would  take 
up  the  call:   "Look  — look  well,  O  Wolves !  " 

At  last  —  and  Mother  Wolf's  neck-bristles 
lifted  as  the   time   came  —  Father  Wolf  pushed 


16  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  Mowgli,  the  Frog,"  as  they  called  him,  into  the 
center,  where  he  sat  laughing  and  playing  with 
some   pebbles   that  glistened   in   the  moonlight. 

Akela  never  raised  his  head  from  his  paws, 
but  went  on  with  the  monotonous  cry,  "  Look 
well !  "  A  muffled  roar  came  up  from  behind  the 
rocks  —  the  voice  of  Shere  Khan  crying,  "The 
cub  is  mine ;  give  him  to  me.  What  have  the 
Free  People  to  do  with  a  man's  cub  ?  " 

Akela  never  even  twitched  his  ears.  All  he 
said  was,  "  Look  well,  O  Wolves  !  What  have 
the  Free  People  to  do  with  the  orders  of  any 
save  the  Free  People  ?     Look  well !  " 

There  was  a  chorus  of  deep  growls,  and  a 
young  wolf  in  his  fourth  year  flung  back  Shere 
Khan's  question  to  Akela:  "What  have  the  Free 
People  to  do  with  a  man's  cub  ? " 

Now  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  lays  down  that  if 
there  is  any  dispute  as  to  the  right  of  a  cub  to  be 
accepted  by  the  Pack,  he  must  be  spoken  for  by 
at  least  two  members  of  the  Pack  who  are  not  his 
father  and  mother. 

"Who  speaks  for  this  cub?"  said  Akela. 
"Among  the  Free  People,  who  speaks?"  There 
was  no  answer,  and  Mother  Wolf  got  ready  for 
what  she  knew  would  be  her  last  fight,  if  things 
came  to  fighting. 


MOWGLrS    BROTHERS  19 

Then  the  only  other  creature  who  is  allowed  at 
the  Pack  Council — Baloo,  the  sleepy  brown  bear 
who  teaches  the  wolf  cubs  the  Law  of  the  Jungle ; 
old  Baloo — who  can  come  and  go  where  he 
pleases  because  he  eats  only  nuts  and  roots  and 
honey  —  rose  up  on  his  hind  quarters  and 
grunted. 

"The  man's  cub — -the  man's  cub?"  he  said. 
"  /  speak  for  the  man's  cub.  There  is  no  harm  in 
a  man's  cub.  I  have  no  gift  of  words,  but  I  speak 
the  truth.  Let  him  run  with  the  Pack,  and  be 
entered  with  the  others.      I  myself  will  teach  him." 

"  We  need  yet  another,  said  Akela.  "  Baloo 
has  spoken,  and  he  is  our  teacher  for  the  young 
cubs.     Who  speaks  besides  Baloo  ?  " 

A  black  shadow  dropped  down  into  the  circle. 
It  was  Bagheera,  the  Black  Panther,  inky  black 
all  over,  but  with  the  panther  markings  showing 
up  in  certain  lights  like  the  pattern  of  watered 
silk.  Everybody  knew  Bagheera,  and  nobody 
cared  to  cross  his  path ;  for  he  was  as  cunning 
as  Tabaqui,  as  bold  as  the  wild  buffalo,  and  as 
reckless  as  the  wounded  elephant.  But  he  had 
a  voice  as  soft  as  wild  honey  dripping  from  a 
tree,  and  a  skin  softer  than  down. 

"  O  Akela,  and  ye,  the  Free  People,"  he 
purred,  "  I  have  no  right  in  your  assembly ;  but 


20  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  Law  of  the  Jungle  says  that  if  there  is  a 
doubt  which  is  not  a  killing  matter  in  regard  to 
a  new  cub,  the  life  of  that  cub  may  be  bought 
at  a  price.  And  the  Law  does  not  say  who  may 
or  may  not  pay  that  price.     Am  I  right  ?  " 

"  Good  !  good  !  "  said  the  young  wolves,  who 
are  always  hungry.  "  Listen  to  Bagheera.  The 
cub  can  be  bought  for  a  price.      It  is  the  Law." 

"  Knowing  that  I  have  no  right  to  speak  here, 
I  ask  your  leave." 

"  Speak  then,"  cried  twenty  voices. 

"  To  kill  a  naked  cub  is  shame.  Besides,  he 
may  make  better  sport  for  you  when  he  is  grown. 
Baloo  has  spoken  in  his  behalf.  Now  to  Baloo's 
word  I  will  add  one  bull,  and  a  fat  one,  newly 
killed,  not  half  a  mile  from  here,  if  ye  will  ac- 
cept the  man's  cub  according  to  the  Law.  Is  it 
difficult?" 

There  was  a  clamor  of  scores  of  voices,  saying : 
"What  matter?  He  will  die  in  the  winter  rains. 
He  will  scorch  in  the  sun.  What  harm  can  a 
naked  frog  do  us  ?  Let  him  run  with  the  Pack. 
Where  is  the  bull,  Bagheera?  Let  him  be  ac- 
cepted." And  then  came  Akela's  deep  bay,  cry- 
ing :    "  Look  well — look  well,  O  Wolves  !  " 

Mowgli  was  still  playing  with  the  pebbles,  and 
he   did   not   notice   when  the   wolves   came   and 


MOWGLi'S  BROTHERS  21 

looked  at  him  one  by  one.  At  last  they  all  went 
down  the  hill  for  the  dead  bull,  and  only  Akela, 
Bagheera,  Baloo,  and  Mowgli's  own  wolves  were 
left.  Shere  Khan  roared  still  in  the  night,  for  he 
was  very  angry  that  Mowgli  had  not  been  handed 
over  to  him. 

"Ay,  roar  well,"  said  Bagheera,  under  his 
whiskers  ;  "  for  the  time  comes  when  this  naked 
thing  will  make  thee  roar  to  another  tune,  or  I 
know  nothing"  of  Man." 

"  It  was  well  done,"  said  Akela.  "  Men  and  their 
cubs  are  very  wise.     He  may  be  a  help  in  time." 

"  Truly,  a  help  in  time  of  need  ;  for  none  can 
hope  to  lead  the  Pack  forever,"  said  Bagheera. 

Akela  said  nothing.  He  was  thinking-  of  the 
time  that  comes  to  every  leader  of  every  pack 
when  his  strength  goes  from  him  and  he  gets 
feebler  and  feebler,  till  at  last  he  is  killed  by  the 
wolves  and  a  new  leader  comes  up  —  to  be  killed 
in  his  turn. 

"Take  him  away,"  he  said  to  Father  Wolf, 
"  and  train  him  as  befits  one  of  the  Free 
People." 

And  that  is  how  Mowgli  was  entered  into  the 
Seeonee  wolf-pack  for  the  price  of  a  bull  and  on 
Baloo's  good  word. 


22  THE    JUNGLE    BOOK 

Now  you  must  be  content  to  skip  ten  or 
eleven  whole  years,  and  only  guess  at  all  the 
wonderful  life  that  Mowgli  led  among  the 
wolves,  because  if  it  were  written  out  it  would 
fill  ever  so  many  books.  He  grew  up  with  the 
cubs,  though  they  of  course  were  grown  wolves 
almost  before  he  was  a  child,  and  Father  Wolf 
taught  him  his  business,  and  the  meaning  of 
things  in  the  jungle,  till  every  rustle  in  the  grass, 
every  breath  of  the  warm  night  air,  every  note 
of  the  owls  above  his  head,  every  scratch  of  a 
bat's  claws  as  it  roosted  for  a  while  in  a  tree,  and 
every  splash  of  every  little  fish  jumping  in  a  pool, 
meant  just  as  much  to  him  as  the  work  of  his 
office  means  to  a  business  man.  When  he  was 
not  learning  he  sat  out  in  the  sun  and  slept,  and 
ate,  and  went  to  sleep  again  ;  when  he  felt  dirty 
or  hot  he  swam  in  the  forest  pools ;  and  when  he 
wanted  honey  (Baloo  told  him  that  honey  and 
nuts  were  just  as  pleasant  to  eat  as  raw  meat)  he 
climbed  up  for  it,  and  that  Bagheera  showed 
him  how  to  do. 

Bagheera  would  lie  out  on  a  branch  and  call, 
"  Come  along,  Little  Brother,"  and  at  first  Mow- 
gli would  cling  like  the  sloth,  but  afterward  he 
would  fling  himself  through  the  branches  al- 
most as  boldly  as   the   gray  ape.     He  took  his 


;>     \N: 


:'BAGHEERA    WOULD    LIE    OUT    ON    A    BRANCH    AND   CALL, 
'COME    ALONG,   LITTLE    BROTHER.'" 


MOWGLI'S  BROTHERS  25 

place  at  the  Council  Rock,  too,  when  the  Pack 
met,  and  there  he  discovered  that  if  he  stared 
hard  at  any  wolf,  the  wolf  would  be  forced  to 
drop  his  eyes,  and  so  he  used  to  stare  for  fun. 

At  other  times  he  would  pick  the  long  thorns 
out  of  the  pads  of  his  friends,  for  wolves  suffer 
terribly  from  thorns  and  burs  in  their  coats.  He 
would  go  down  the  hillside  into  the  cultivated 
lands  by  night,  and  look  very  curiously  at  the 
villagers  in  their  huts,  but  he  had  a  mistrust  of 
men  because  Bagheera  showed  him  a  square  box 
with  a  drop-gate  so  cunningly  hidden  in  the  jun- 
gle that  he  nearly  walked  into  it,  and  told  him  it 
was  a  trap. 

He  loved  better  than  anything  else  to  go  with 
Bagheera  into  the  dark  warm  heart  of  the  forest, 
to  sleep  all  through  the  drowsy  day,  and  at  night 
see  how  Bagheera  did  his  killing.  Bagheera 
killed  right  and  left  as  he  felt  hungry,  and  so  did 
Mowgli — with  one  exception.  As  soon  as  he 
was  old  enough  to  understand  things,  Bagheera 
told  him  that  he  must  never  touch  cattle  because 
he  had  been  bought  into  the  Pack  at  the  price  of 
a  bull's  life.  "  All  the  jungle  is  thine,"  said  Bag- 
heera, "  and  thou  canst  kill  everything  that  thou 
art  strong  enough  to  kill ;  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
bull  that  bought  thee  thou  must  never  kill  or  eat 


26  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

any  cattle  young  or  old.  That  is  the  Law  of  the. 
Jungle."     Mowgli  obeyed  faithfully. 

And  he  grew  and  grew  strong  as  a  boy  must 
grow  who  does  not  know  that  he  is  learning  any 
lessons,  and  who  has  nothing  in  the  world  to 
think  of  except  things  to  eat. 

Mother  Wolf  told  him  once  or  twice  that  Shere 
Khan  was  not  a  creature  to  be  trusted,  and  that 
some  day  he  must  kill  Shere  Khan  ;  but  though  a 
young  wolf  would  have  remembered  that  advice 
every  hour,  Mowgli  forgot  it  because  he  was  only 
a  boy — though  he  would  have  called  himself  a 
wolf  if  he  had  been  able  to  speak  in  any  human 
tongue. 

Shere  Khan  was  always  crossing  his  path  in 
the  jungle,  for  as  Akela  grew  older  and  feebler 
the  lame  tipfer  had  come  to  be  great  friends  with 
the  younger  wolves  of  the  Pack,  who  followed 
him  for  scraps,  a  thing  Akela  would  never  have 
allowed  if  he  had  dared  to  push  his  authority  to 
the  proper  bounds.  Then  Shere  Khan  would 
flatter  them  and  wonder  that  such  fine  young 
hunters  were  content  to  be  led  by  a  dying  wolf 
and  a  man's  cub.  "They  tell  me,"  Shere  Khan 
would  say,  "  that  at  Council  ye  dare  not  look  him 
between  the  eyes  "  ;  and  the  young  wolves  would 
growl  and  bristle. 


MOWGLI'S    BROTHERS  27 

Bagheera,  who  had  eyes  and  ears  everywhere, 
knew  something  of  this,  and  once  or  twice  he 
told  Mowgli  in  so  many  words  that  Shere  Khan 
would  kill  him  some  day ;  and  Mowgli  would 
lautrh  and  answer :  "  I  have  the  Pack  and  I  have 
thee ;  and  Baloo,  though  he  is  so  lazy,  might 
strike  a  blow  or  two  for  my  sake.  Why  should 
I  be  afraid  ?  " 

It  was  one  very  warm  day  that  a  new  notion 
came  to  Bagheera — born  of  something  that  he 
had  heard.  Perhaps  Ikki,  the  Porcupine,  had  told 
him ;  but  he  said  to  Mowgli  when  they  were 
deep  in  the  jungle,  as  the  boy  lay  with  his  head 
on  Baeheera's  beautiful  black  skin :  "  Little 
Brother,  how  often  have  I  told  thee  that  Shere 
Khan  is  thy  enemy  ?  " 

"  As  many  times  as  there  are  nuts  on  that 
palm,"  said  Mowgli,  who,  naturally,  could  not 
count.  "What  of  it  ?  I  am  sleepy,  Bagheera, 
and  Shere  Khan  is  all  long  tail  and  loud  talk, 
like  Mao,  the  Peacock." 

"  But  this  is  no  time  for  sleeping.  Baloo 
knows  it,  I  know  it,  the  Pack  know  it,  and  even 
the  foolish,  foolish  deer  know.  Tabaqui  has  told 
thee  too." 

"  Ho  !  ho!  "  said  Mowgli.  "Tabaqui  came  to 
me  not  long  ago  with  some  rude  talk  that  I  was 


28  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

a  naked  man's  cub,  and  not  fit  to  dig  pig -nuts ;  but 
I  caught  Tabaqui  by  the  tail  and  swung  him  twice 
against  a  palm-tree  to  teach  him  better  manners." 

"That  was  foolishness;  for  though  Tabaqui  is 
a  mischief-maker,  he  would  have  told  thee  of 
something  that  concerned  thee  closely.  Open 
those  eyes,  Little  Brother!  Shere  Khan  dares 
not  kill  thee  in  the  jungle  for  fear  of  those  that 
love  thee ;  but  remember,  Akela  is  very  old,  and 
soon  the  day  comes  when  he  cannot  kill  his  buck, 
and  then  he  will  be  leader  no  more.  Many  of 
the  wolves  that  looked  thee  over  when  thou  wast 
brought  to  the  Council  first  are  old  too,  and  the 
young  wolves  believe,  as  Shere  Khan  has  taught 
them,  that  a  man-cub  has  no  place  with  the  Pack. 
In  a  little  time  thou  wilt  be  a  man." 

"  And  what  is  a  man  that  he  should  not  run 
with  his  brothers?"  said  Mowgli.  "I  was  born 
in  the  jungle ;  I  have  obeyed  the  Law  of  the 
Jungle ;  and  there  is  no  wolf  of  ours  from  whose 
paws  I  have  not  pulled  a  thorn.  Surely  they  are 
my  brothers  ! " 

Bagheera  stretched  himself  at  full  length  and 
half  shut  his  eyes.  "  Little  Brother,"  said  he, 
"  feel  under  my  jaw." 

Mowgli  put  up  his  strong  brown  hand,  and 
just  under  Bagheera's  silky  chin,  where  the  giant 


MOWGLI'S    BROTHERS  29 

rolling  muscles  were  all  hid  by  the  glossy  hair, 
he  came  upon  a  little  bald  spot. 

"There  is  rio  one  in  the  jungle  that  knows 
that  I,  Bagheera,  carry  that  mark — the  mark  of 
the  collar ;  and  yet,  Little  Brother,  I  was  born 
among  men,  and  it  was  among  men  that  my 
mother  died — in  the  cages  of  the  King's  Palace 
at  Oodeypore.  It  was  because  of  this  that  I  paid 
the  price  for  thee  at  the  Council  when  thou  wast 
a  little  naked  cub.  Yes,  I  too  was  born  among 
men.  I  had  never  seen  the  jungle.  They  fed 
me  behind  bars  from  an  iron  pan  till  one  night  I 
felt  that  I  was  Bagheera,  the  Panther,  and  no 
man's  plaything,  and  I  broke  the  silly  lock  with 
one  blow  of  my  paw,  and  came  away ;  and  be- 
cause I  had  learned  the  ways  of  men,  I  became 
more  terrible  in  the  jungle  than  Shere  Khan.  Is 
it  not  so  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Mowgli ;  "  all  the  jungle  fear  Bag- 
heera— all  except  Mowgli." 

"  Oh,  thou  art  a  man's  cub,"  said  the  Black 
Panther,  very  tenderly  ;  "  and  even  as  I  returned 
to  my  jungle,  so  thou  must  go  back  to  men  at 
last, — to  the  men  who  are  thy  brothers, —  if  thou 
art  not  killed  in  the  Council." 

"But  why  —  but  why  should  any  wish  to  kill 
me  ? "  said  Mowgli. 


3o  THE    JUNGLE    BOOK 

"Look  at  me,"  said  Bagheera;  and  Mowgli 
looked  at  him  steadily  between  the  eyes.  The 
big  panther  turned  his  head  away  in  half  a 
minute, 

"  That  is  why,"  he  said,  shifting  his  paw  on 
the  leaves.  "  Not  even  I  can  look  thee  between 
the  eyes,  and  I  was  born  among  men,  and  I  love 
thee,  Little  Brother.  The  others  they  hate  thee 
because  their  eyes  cannot  meet  thine  ;  because 
thou  art  wise ;  because  thou  hast  pulled  out 
thorns  from  their  feet — 'because  thou  art  a 
man." 

"  I  did  not  know  these  things,"  said  Mowgli, 
sullenly ;  and  he  frowned  under  his  heavy  black 
eyebrows. 

"  What  is  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  ?  Strike  first 
and  then  give  tongue.  By  thy  very  carelessness 
they  know  that  thou  art  a  man.  But  be  wise.  It 
is  in  my  heart  that  when  Akela  misses  his  next 
kill, — and  at  each  hunt  it  costs  him  more  to  pin 
the  buck, — the  Pack  will  turn  against  him  and 
against  thee.  They  will  hold  a  jungle  Council  at 
the  Rock,  and  then — and  then  ...  I  have  it ! " 
said  Bagheera,  leaping  up.  "  Go  thou  down  quickly 
to  the  men's  huts  in  the  valley,  and  take  some  of 
the  Red  Flower  which  they  grow  there,  so  that 
when  the  time  comes  thou  mayest  have  even  a 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  31 

stronger  friend  than  I  or  Baloo  or  those  of  the 
Pack  that  love  thee.      Get  the  Red  Flower." 

By  Red  Flower  Bagheera  meant  fire,  only  no 
creature  in  the  jungle  will  call  fire  by  its  proper 
name.  Every  beast  lives  in  deadly  fear  of  it,  and 
invents  a  hundred  ways  of  describing  it. 

"The  Red  Flower?"  said  Mowgli.  "That 
grows  outside  their  huts  in  the  twilight.  I  will 
get  some." 

"  There  speaks  the  man's  cub,"  said  Bag- 
heera, proudly.  "  Remember  that  it  grows  in 
little  pots.  Get  one  swiftly,  and  keep  it  by 
thee   for  time  of  need." 

"  Good  !  "  said  Mowgli.  "  I  go.  But  art  thou 
sure,  O  my  Bagheera" — he  slipped  his  arm  round 
the  splendid  neck,  and  looked  deep  into  the  big 
eyes  —  "art  thou  sure  that  all  this  is  Shere 
Khan's  doing?  " 

"  By  the  Broken  Lock  that  freed  me,  I  am 
sure,   Little  Brother." 

"Then,  by  the  Bull  that  bought  me,  I  will  pay 
Shere  Khan  full  tale  for  this,  and  it  may  be  a  lit- 
tle over,"  said  Mowgli ;  and  he  bounded  away. 

"That  is  a  man.  That  is  all  a  man,"  said 
Bagheera  to  himself,  lying  down  again.  "  Oh, 
Shere  Khan,  never  was  a  blacker  hunting  than 
that  frog-hunt  of  thine  ten  years  ago !  " 


32  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

Mowgli  was  far  and  far  through  the  forest, 
running  hard,  and  his  heart  was  hot  in  him.  He 
came  to  the  cave  as  the  evening  mist  rose,  and 
drew  breath,  and  looked  down  the  valley.  The 
cubs  were  out,  but  Mother  Wolf,  at  the  back  of 
the  cave,  knew  by  his  breathing  that  something 
was  troubling  her  frog. 

"  What  is  it,  Son  ?  "  she  said. 

"  Some  bat's  chatter  of  Shere  Khan,"  he  called 
back.  "  I  hunt  among  the  plowed  fields  to- 
night "  ;  and  he  plunged  downward  through  the 
bushes,  to  the  stream  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 
There  he  checked,  for  he  heard  the  yell  of  the 
Pack  hunting,  heard  the  bellow  of  a  hunted 
Sambhur,  and  the  snort  as  the  buck  turned  at 
bay.  Then  there  were  wicked,  bitter  howls  from 
the  young  wolves:  "  Akela !  Akela !  Let  the 
Lone  Wolf  show  his  strength.  Room  for  the 
leader  of  our  Pack  !     Spring,  Akela  !  " 

The  Lone  Wolf  must  have  sprung  and  missed 
his  hold,  for  Mowgli  heard  the  snap  of  his  teeth 
and  then  a  yelp  as  the  Sambhur  knocked  him 
over  with  his  fore  foot. 

He  did  not  wait  for  anything  more,  but  dashed 
on ;  and  the  yells  grew  fainter  behind  him  as  he 
ran  into  the  crop -lands  where  the  villagers  lived. 

"  Bagheera   spoke   truth,"   he   panted,   as    he 


MOWGLI'S  BROTHERS  33 

nestled  down  in  some  cattle-fodder  by  the 
window  of  a  hut.  "  To-morrow  is  one  day  for 
Akela  and  for  me." 

Then  he  pressed  his  face  close  to  the  window 
and  watched  the  fire  on  the  hearth.  He  saw  the 
husbandman's  wife  get  up  and  feed  it  in  the 
night  with  black  lumps ;  and  when  the  morning 
came  and  the  mists  were  all  white  and  cold,  he 
saw  the  man's  child  pick  up  a  wicker  pot 
plastered  inside  with  earth,  fill  it  with  lumps  of 
red-hot  charcoal,  put  it  under  his  blanket,  and 
go  out  to  tend  the  cows  in  the  byre. 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  said  Mowgli.  "  If  a  cub  can  do 
it,  there  is  nothing  to  fear  " ;  so  he  strode  around 
the  corner  and  met  the  boy,  took  the  pot  from  his 
hand,  and  disappeared  into  the  mist  while  the 
boy  howled  with  fear. 

"  They  are  very  like  me,"  said  Mowgli,  blowing 
into  the  pot,  as  he  had  seen  the  woman  do. 
"  This  thing  will  die  if  I  do  not  give  it  things  to 
eat " ;  and  he  dropped  twigs  and  dried  bark  on 
the  red  stuff.  Half-way  up  the  hill  he  met  Bag- 
heera  with  the  morning  dew  shining  like  moon- 
stones on  his  coat. 

"Akela  has  missed,"  said  the  panther.  "They 
would  have  killed  him  last  night,  but  they  needed 
thee  also.  They  were  looking  for  thee  on  the  hill." 


34  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"I  was  among  the  plowed  lands.  I  am  ready. 
Look  ! "     Mowgli  held  up  the  fire-pot. 

"  Good  1  Now,  I  have  seen  men  thrust  a  dry 
branch  into  that  stuff,  and  presently  the  Red 
Flower  blossomed  at  the  end  of  it.  Art  thou 
not  afraid  ? " 

"No.  Why  should  I  fear?  I  remember  now 
—if  it  is  not  a  dream — how,  before  I  was  a  wolf, 
I  lay  beside  the  Red  Flower,  and  it  was  warm 
and  pleasant." 

All  that  day  Mowgli  sat  in  the  cave  tending 
his  fire-pot  and  dipping  dry  branches  into  it  to  see 
how  they  looked.  He  found  a  branch  that  sat- 
isfied him,  and  in  the  evening  when  Tabaqui 
came  to  the  cave  and  told  him,  rudely  enough, 
that  he  was  wanted  at  the  Council  Rock,  he 
laughed  till  Tabaqui  ran  away.  Then  Mowgli 
went  to  the  Council,  still  laughing. 

Akela  the  Lone  Wolf  lay  by  the  side  of  his 
rock  as  a  sign  that  the  leadership  of  the  Pack 
was  open,  and  Shere  Khan  with  his  following  of 
scrap-fed  wolves  walked  to  and  fro  openly,  being 
flattered.  Bagheera  lay  close  to  Mowgli,  and 
the  fire-pot  was  between  Mowgli's  knees.  When 
they  were  all  gathered  together,  Shere  Khan  be- 
gan to  speak  —  a  thing  he  would  never  have  dared 
to  do  when  Akela  was  in  his  prime„ 


MOWGLI'S    BROTHERS  35 

"  He  has  no  right,"  whispered  Bagheera.  "  Say 
so.     He  is  a  dog's  son.     He  will  be  frightened." 

Mowgli  sprang  to  his  feet.  "  Free  People," 
he  cried,  "  does  Shere  Khan  lead  the  Pack  ? 
What  has  a  tiger  to  do  with  our  leadership?" 

"Seeing  that  the  leadership  is  yet  open,  and 
being  asked  to  speak  " — Shere  Khan  began. 

"By  whom?"  said  Mowgli.  "Are  we  all 
jackals,  to  fawn  on  this  cattle-butcher  ?  The 
leadership  of  the  Pack  is  with  the  Pack  alone." 

There  were  yells  of  "  Silence,  thou  man's 
cub  ! "  "  Let  him  speak  ;  he  has  kept  our  law  !" 
And  at  last  the  seniors  of  the  Pack  thundered : 
"  Let  the  Dead  Wolf  speak  ! " 

When  a  leader  of  the  Pack  has  missed  his  kill, 
he  is  called  the  Dead  Wolf  as  long  as  he  lives, 
which  is  not  long,  as  a  rule. 

Akela  raised  his  old  head  wearily : 

"  Free  people,  and  ye  too,  jackals  of  Shere 
Khan,  for  twelve  seasons  I  have  led  ye  to  and 
from  the  kill,  and  in  all  that  time  not  one  has 
been  trapped  or  maimed.  Now  I  have  missed 
my  kill.  Ye  know  how  that  plot  was  made.  Ye 
know  how  ye  brought  me  up  to  an  untried  buck 
to  make  my  weakness  known.  It  was  cleverly 
done.  Your  right  is  to  kill  me  here  on  the 
Council    Rock   now.     Therefore    I    ask,    'Who 


36  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

comes  to  make  an  end  of  the  Lone  Wolf?'  For 
it  is  my  right,  by  the  Law  of  the  Jungle,  that  ye 
come  one  by  one." 

There  was  a  long  hush,  for  no  single  wolf 
cared  to  fight  Akela  to  the  death.  Then  Shere 
Khan  roared :  "  Bah  !  What  have  we  to  do  with 
this  toothless  fool?  He  is  doomed  to  die!  It 
is  the  man-cub  who  has  lived  too  long.  Free 
People,  he  was  my  meat  from  the  first.  Give 
him  to  me.  I  am  weary  of  this  man-wolf  folly. 
He  has  troubled  the  jungle  for  ten  seasons.  Give 
me  the  man-cub,  or  I  will  hunt  here  always,  and  not 
give  you  one  bone!  He  is  a  man  —  a  man's  child, 
and  from  the  marrow  of  my  bones  I  hate  him  !  " 

Then  more  than  half  the  Pack  yelled :  "  A 
man  —  a  man!  What  has  a  man  to  do  with  us? 
Let  him  go  to  his  own  place." 

"  And  turn  all  the  people  of  the  villages 
against  us?  "snarled  Shere  Khan.  "No;  give 
him  to  me.  He  is  a  man,  and  none  of  us  can 
look  him  between  the  eyes." 

Akela  lifted  his  head  again,  and  said:  "He 
has  eaten  our  food ;  he  has  slept  with  us ;  he  has 
driven  game  for  us ;  he  has  broken  no  word  of 
the  Law  of  the  Jungle." 

"  Also,  I  paid  for  him  with  a  bull  when  he  was 
accepted.     The  worth  of  a  bull  is  little,  but  Bag- 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  37 

heera's  honor  is  something  that  he  will  perhaps 
fight  for,"  said  Bagheera  in  his  gentlest  voice. 

"  A  bull  paid  ten  years  ago  !  "  the  Pack  snarled. 
"  What  do  we  care  for  bones  ten  years  old  ?  " 

"Or  for  a  pledge?"  said  Bagheera,  his  white 
teeth  bared  under  his  lip.  "  Well  are  ye  called 
the  Free  People  !  " 

"  No  man's  cub  can  run  with  the  people  of  f,he 
jungle!"  roared  Shere  Khan.     "Give  him  to  me." 

"  He  is  our  brother  in  all  but  blood,"  Akela 
went  on;  "and  ye  would  kill  him  here.  In 
truth,  I  have  lived  too  long.  Some  of  ye  are 
eaters  of  cattle,  and  of  others  I  have  heard  that, 
under  Shere  Khan's  teaching,  ye  go  by  dark 
night  and  snatch  children  from  the  villager's 
doorstep.  Therefore  I  know  ye  to  be  cowards, 
and  it  is  to  cowards  I  speak.  It  is  certain  that 
I  must  die,  and  my  life  is  of  no  worth,  or  I  would 
offer  that  in  the  man-cub's  place.  But  for  the 
sake  of  the  Honor  of  the  Pack, —  a  little  matter 
that,  by  being  without  a  leader,  ye  have  for- 
gotten,—  I  promise  that  if  ye  let  the  man-cub 
go  to  his  own  place,  I  will  not,  when  my  time 
comes  to  die,  bare  one  tooth  against  ye.  I  will 
die  without  fighting.  That  will  at  least  save  the 
Pack  three  lives.  More  I  cannot  do ;  but,  if  ye 
will,  I  can  save  ye  the  shame  that  comes  of  killing 


38  THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 

a  brother  against  whom  there  is  no  fault- — a 
brother  spoken  for  and  bought  into  the  Pack 
according  to  the   Law  of  the  Jungle." 

"  He  is  a  man  —  a  man — a  man  !  "  snarled  the 
Pack ;  and  most  of  the  wolves  began  to  gather 
round  Shere  Khan,  whose  tail  was  beginning  to 
switch. 

"  Now  the  business  is  in  thy  hands,"  said 
Bagheera  to  Mowgli.  "  We  can  do  no  more 
except  fight." 

Mowgli  stood  upright — the  fire-pot  in  his 
hands.  Then  he  stretched  out  his  arms,  and 
yawned  in  the  face  of  the  Council ;  but  he  was 
furious  with  rage  and  sorrow,  for,  wolf-like,  the 
wolves  had  never  told  him  how  they  hated 
him. 

"Listen,  you!"  he  cried.  "There  is  no  need 
for  this  dog's  jabber.  Ye  have  told  me  so  often 
to-night  that  I  am  a  man  (though  indeed  I  would 
have  been  a  wolf  with  you  to  my  life's  end)  that 
I  feel  your  words  are  true.  So  I  do  not  call  ye 
my  brothers  any  more,  but  sag  [dogs],  as  a  man 
should.  What  ye  will  do,  and  what  ye  will  not 
do,  is  not  yours  to  say.  That  matter  is  with  me; 
and  that  we  may  see  the  matter  more  plainly,  I, 
the  man,  have  brought  here  a  little  of  the  Red 
Flower  which  ye,  dogs,  fear." 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  39 

He  flung  the  fire-pot  on  the  ground,  and  some 
of  the  red  coals  lit  a  tuft  of  dried  moss  that  flared 
up  as  all  the  Council  drew  back  in  terror  before 
the  leaping  flames. 

Mowgli  thrust  his  dead  branch  into  the  fire  till 
the  twigs  lit  and  crackled,  and  whirled  it  above 
his  head  among  the  cowering  wolves. 

"Thou  art  the  master,"  said  Bagheera,  in  an 
undertone.  "  Save  Akela  from  the  death.  He 
was  ever  thy  friend." 

Akela,  the  grim  old  wolf  who  had  never  asked 
for  mercy  in  his  life,  gave  one  piteous  look  at 
Mowgli  as  the  boy  stood  all  naked,  his  long  black 
hair  tossing  over  his  shoulders  in  the  li^ht  of  the 
blazing  branch  that  made  the  shadows  jump  and 
quiver. 

"  Good !  "  said  Mowgli,  staring  around  slowly, 
and  thrusting  out  his  lower  lip.  "  I  see  that  ye 
are  dogs.  I  go  from  you  to  my  own  people — if 
they  be  my  own  people.  The  jungle  is  shut  to 
me,  and  I  must  forget  your  talk  and  your  com- 
panionship ;  but  I  will  be  more  merciful  than  ye 
are.  Because  I  was  all  but  your  brother  in  blood, 
I  promise  that  when  I  am  a  man  among  men  I 
will  not  betray  ye  to  men  as  ye  have  betrayed 
me."  He  kicked  the  fire  with  his  foot,  and  the 
sparks   flew  up.     "There  shall  be   no  war  be- 


4o  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

tween  any  of  us  and  the  Pack.  But  here  is  a 
debt  to  pay  before  I  go."  He  strode  forward  to 
where  Shere  Khan  sat  blinking  stupidly  at  the 
flames,  and  caught  him  by  the  tuft  on  his  chin. 
Bagheera  followed  close,  in  case  of  accidents. 
"Up,  dog!"  Mowgli  cried.  "Up,  when  a  man 
speaks,  or  I  will  set  that  coat  ablaze  ! " 

Shere  Khan's  ears  lay  flat  back  on  his  head, 
and  he  shut  his  eyes,  for  the  blazing  branch  was 
very  near. 

"  This  cattle-killer  said  he  would  kill  me  in  the 
Council  because  he  had  not  killed  me  when  I  was 
a  cub.  Thus  and  thus,  then,  do  we  beat  dogs 
when  we  are  men  !  Stir  a  whisker,  Lungri,  and 
I  ram  the  Red  Flower  down  thy  gullet !  "  He 
beat  Shere  Khan  over  the  head  with  the  branch, 
and  the  tiger  whimpered  and  whined  in  an  agony 
of  fear. 

"Pah!  Singed  jungle-cat  —  go  now!  But 
remember  when  next  I  come  to  the  Council 
Rock,  as  a  man  should  come,  it  will  be  with 
Shere  Khan's  hide  on  my  head.  For  the  rest, 
Akela  goes  free  to  live  as  he  pleases.  Ye  will 
not  kill  him,  because  that  is  not  my  will.  Nor 
do  I  think  that  ye  will  sit  here  any  longer,  lolling 
out  your  tongues  as  though  ye  were  somebodies, 
mstead  of  dogs  whom  I  drive  out  —  thus!    Go!  " 


MOWGLI'S   BROTHERS  41 

The  fire  was  burning  furiously  at  the  end  of 
the  branch,  and  Mowgli  struck  right  and  left 
round  the  circle,  and  the  wolves  ran  howling  with 
the  sparks  burning  their  fur.  At  last  there  were 
only  Akela,  Bagheera,  and  perhaps  ten  wolves 
that  had  taken  Mowgli's  part.  Then  something 
began  to  hurt  Mowgli  inside  him,  as  he  had 
never  been  hurt  in  his  life  before,  and  he  caught 
his  breath  and  sobbed,  and  the  tears  ran  down 
his  face. 

"What  is  it?  What  is  it?"  he  said.  "I  do 
not  wish  to  leave  the  jungle,  and  I  do  not  know 
what  this  is.     Am  I  dying,  Bagheera  ?  " 

"  No,  Little  Brother.  Those  are  only  tears 
such  as  men  use,"  said  Bagheera.  "  Now  I  know 
thou  art  a  man,  and  a  man's  cub  no  longer. 
The  jungle  is  shut  indeed  to  thee  hencefor- 
ward. Let  them  fall,  Mowgli;  they  are  only 
tears."  So  Mowgli  sat  and  cried  as  though 
his  heart  would  break ;  and  he  had  never  cried 
in   all   his   life  before. 

"  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  will  go  to  men.  But  first 
I  must  say  farewell  to  my  mother  " ;  and  he  went 
to  the  cave  where  she  lived  with  Father  Wolf, 
and  he  cried  on  her  coat,  while  the  four  cubs 
howled  miserably. 

"  Ye  will  not  forget  me  ?  "  said  Mowgli. 


42  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  Never  while  we  can  follow  a  trail,"  said  the 
cubs.  "  Come  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  when  thou 
art  a  man,  and  we  will  talk  to  thee ;  and  we  will 
come  into  the  crop-lands  to  play  with  thee  by 
night." 

"  Come  soon  !  "  said  Father  Wolf.  "  Oh,  wise 
little  Frog,  come  again  soon ;  for  we  be  old,  thy 
mother  and  I." 

"Come  soon,"  said  Mother  Wolf,  "little  naked 
son  of  mine ;  for,  listen,  child  of  man,  I  loved 
thee  more  than  ever  I  loved  my  cubs." 

"I  will  surely  come,"  said  Mowgli ;  "and 
when  I  come  it  will  be  to  lay  out  Shere  Khan's 
hide  upon  the  Council  Rock.  Do  not  forget  me ! 
Tell  them  in  the  jungle  never  to  forget  me  ! " 

The  dawn  was  beginning  to  break  when 
Mowgli  went  down  the  hillside  alone  to  the  crops 
to  meet  those  mysterious  things  that  are  called 
men. 

HUNTING-SONG  OF  THE  SEEONEE  PACK 

As  the  dawn  was  breaking  the  Sambhur  belled 

Once,  twice,  and  again  ! 
And  a  doe  leaped  up  —  and  a  doe  leaped  up 
From  the  pond  in  the  wood  where  the  wild  deer  sup. 
This  I,  scouting  alone,  beheld, 

Once,  twice,  and  again  ! 


MOWGLI'S    BROTHERS  43 

As  the  dawn  was  breaking  the  Sambhur  belled 

Once,  twice,  and  again  ! 
And  a  wolf  stole  back — and  a  wolf  stole  back 
To  carry  the  word  to  the  waiting  Pack; 
And  we  sought  and  we  found  and  we  bayed  on  his  track 

Once,  twice,  and  again  ! 

As  the  dawn  was  breaking  the  Wolf-pack  yelled 

Once,  twice,  and  again ! 
Feet  in  the  jungle  that  leave  no  mark  ! 
Eyes  that  can  see  in  the  dark — the  dark ! 
Tongue — give  tongue  to  it !     Hark!     O  Hark! 

Once,  twice,  and  again  ! 


KAA'S  HUNTING 


His  spots  are  the  joy  of  the  Leopard:  his  horns  are  the  Buffalo's 

pride — 
Be  clean,  for  the  strength  of  the  hunter  is  known  by  the  gloss  of 

his  hide. 

If  ye  find  that  the  Bullock  can  toss  you,  or  the  heavy-browed 

Sambhur  can  gore; 
Ye  need  not  stop    work   to   inform  us;    we  knew  it  ten  seasons 

before. 

Oppress  not  the  cubs  of  the  stranger,  but  hail  them  as  Sister  and 

Brother, 
For  though  they  are  little  and  fubsy,  it  may  be  the  Bear  is  their 

mother. 

"There  is  none  like  to  me!"  says  the  Cub  in  the  pride  of  his 

earliest  kill; 

But  the  Jungle  is  large  and  the  Cub  he  is  small.     Let  him  think 

and  be  still. 

Mamxis  of  Baloo. 


KAA'S    HUNTING 


ALL  that  is  told  here  happened  some  time 
JT\.  before  Mowgli  was  turned  out  of  the  See- 
onee  wolf-pack.  It  was  in  the  days  when  Baloo 
was  teaching  him  the  Law  of  the  Jungle.  The 
big,  serious,  old  brown  bear  was  delighted  to 
have  so  quick  a  pupil,  for  the  young  wolves  will 
only  learn  as  much  of  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  as 
applies  to  their  own  pack  and  tribe,  and  run  away 
as  soon  as  they  can  repeat  the  Hunting  Verse: 
i(  Feet  that  make  no  noise ;  eyes  that  can  see  in 
the  dark ;  ears  that  can  hear  the  winds  in  their 
lairs,  and  sharp  white  teeth —  all  these  things  are 


48  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  marks  of  our  brothers  except  Tabaqui  and 
the  Hyena,  whom  we  hate."  But  Mowgli,  as  a 
man-cub,  had  to  learn  a  great  deal  more  than 
this.  Sometimes  Bagheera,  the  Black  Panther, 
would  come  lounging  through  the  jungle  to  see 
how  his  pet  was  getting  on,  and  would  purr  with 
his  head  against  a  tree  while  Mowgli  recited  the 
day's  lesson  to  Baloo.  The  boy  could  climb 
almost  as  well  as  he  could  swim,  and  swim 
almost  as  well  as  he  could  run ;  so  Baloo,  the 
Teacher  of  the  Law,  taught  him  the  Wood  and 
Water  laws :  how  to  tell  a  rotten  branch  from  a 
sound  one ;  how  to  speak  politely  to  the  wild 
bees  when  he  came  upon  a  hive  of  them  fifty 
feet  aboveground ;  what  to  say  to  Mang,  the 
Bat,  when  he  disturbed  him  in  the  branches  at 
midday ;  and  how  to  warn  the  water-snakes  in 
the  pools  before  he  splashed  down  among  them. 
None  of  the  Jungle  People  like  being  disturbed, 
and  all  are  very  ready  to  fly  at  an  intruder. 
Then,  too,  Mowgli  was  taught  the  Strangers' 
Hunting  Call,  which  must  be  repeated  aloud  till 
it  is  answered,  whenever  one  of  the  Jungle  People 
hunts  outside  his  own  grounds.  It  means,  trans- 
lated: "Give  me  leave  to  hunt  here  because  I 
am  hungry";  and  the  answer  is:  "  Hunt,  then, 
for  food,  but  not  for  pleasure." 


KAA'S   HUNTING  49 

All  this  will  show  you  how  much  Mowgli  had  to 
learn  by  heart,  and  he  grew  very  tired  of  repeating 
the  same  thing  a  hundred  times ;  but,  as  Baloo  said 
to  Bagheera  one  day  when  Mowgli  had  been  cuffed 
andhadrunoffin  a  temper:  "Aman'scubisaman's 
cub,  and  he  must  learns//  the  Law  of  the  Jungle." 

"  But  think  how  small  he  is,"  said  the  Black 
Panther,  who  would  have  spoiled  Mowgli  if  he 
had  had  his  own  way.  "  How  can  his  little  head 
carry  all  thy  long  talk  ?  " 

"Is  there  anything  in  the  jungle  too  little  to 
be  killed  ?  No.  That  is  why  I  teach  him  these 
things,  and  that  is  why  I  hit  him,  very  softly, 
when  he  forgets." 

"  Softly  !  What  dost  thou  know  of  softness, 
old  Iron-feet  ?  "  Bagheera  grunted.  "  His  face  is 
all  bruised  to-day  by  thy  —  softness.      Ugh  !  " 

"  Better  he  should  be  bruised  from  head  to 
foot  by  me  who  love  him  than  that  he  should 
come  to  harm  through  ignorance,"  Baloo  an- 
swered, very  earnestly.  "  I  am  now  teaching 
him  the  Master  Words  of  the  Jungle  that  shall 
protect  him  with  the  Birds  and  the  Snake  People, 
and  all  that  hunt  on  four  feet,  except  his  own 
pack.  He  can  now  claim  protection,  if  he  will 
only  remember  the  Words,  from  all  in  the  jungle. 
Is  not  that  worth  a  little  beating  ?  " 


50  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  Well,  look  to  it  then  that  thou  dost  not  kill 
the  man-cub.  He  is  no  tree-trunk  to  sharpen 
thy  blunt  claws  upon.  But  what  are  those  Mas- 
ter Words  ?  I  am  more  likely  to  give  help  than 
to  ask  it  " —  Bagheera  stretched  out  one  paw  and 
admired  the  steel-blue  ripping-chisel  talons  at  the 
end  of  it — "  Still  I  should  like  to  know." 

"  I  will  call  Mowgli  and  he  shall  say  them  — 
if  he  will.      Come,  Little  Brother  !  " 

"  My  head  is  ringing  like  a  bee-tree,"  said  a 
sullen  voice  over  their  heads,  and  Mowgli  slid 
down  a  tree-trunk,  very  angry  and  indignant, 
adding,  as  he  reached  the  ground:  "  I  come  for 
Bagheera  and  not  for  thee,  fat  old  Baloo  !  " 

"  That  is  all  one  to  me,"  said  Baloo,  though  he 
was  hurt  and  grieved.  "  Tell  Bagheera,  then,  the 
Master  Words  of  the  Jungle  that  I  have  taught 
thee  this  day." 

"  Master  Words  for  which  people  ? "  said  Mow- 
gli, delighted  to  show  off.  "  The  jungle  has  many 
tongues.     I  know  them  all." 

"  A  little  thou  knowest,  but  not  much.  See,  O 
Bagheera,  they  never  thank  their  teacher!  Not 
one  small  wolfling  has  come  back  to  thank  old 
Baloo  for  his  teachings.  Say  the  Word  for  the 
Hunting  People,  then, —  great  scholar  !  " 

"We  be  of  one  blood,  ye  and  I,"  said  Mowgli, 


KAA'S   HUNTING  51 

giving  the  words  the  Bear  accent  which  all  the 
Hunting  People  of  the  Jungle  use. 

"  Good  !     Now  for  the  Birds." 

Mowgli  repeated,  with  the  Kite's  whistle  at 
the  end  of  the  sentence. 

"Now  for  the  Snake  People,"  said  Bagheera. 

The  answer  was  a  perfectly  indescribable  hiss, 
and  Mowgli  kicked  up  his  feet  behind,  clapped 
his  hands  together  to  applaud  himself,  and  jumped 
on  Bagheera's  back,  where  he  sat  sideways, 
drumming  with  his  heels  on  the  glossy  skin  and 
making  the  worst  faces  that  he  could  think  of  at 
Baloo. 

"There  —  there!  That  was  worth  a  little 
bruise,"  said  the  Brown  Bear,  tenderly.  "  Some 
day  thou  wilt  remember  me."  Then  he  turned 
aside  to  tell  Bagheera  how  he  had  begged  the 
Master  Words  from  Hathi,  the  Wild  Elephant, 
who  knows  all  about  these  things,  and  how  Hathi 
had  taken  Mowgli  down  to  a  pool  to  get  the 
Snake  Word  from  a  water-snake,  because  Baloo 
could  not  pronounce  it,  and  how  Mowgli  was 
now  reasonably  safe  against  all  accidents  in  the 
jungle,  because  neither  snake,  bird,  nor  beast 
would  hurt  him. 

"  No  one  then  is  to  be  feared,"  Baloo  wound  up, 
patting  his  big  furry  stomach  with  pride. 


52  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"Except  his  own  tribe,"  said  Bagheera,  under 
his  breath;  and  then  aloud  to  Mowgli :  "  Have  a 
care  for  my  ribs,  Little  Brother !  What  is  all  this 
dancing  up  and  down  ?  " 

Mowgli  had  been  trying  to  make  himself  heard 
by  pulling  at  Bagheera's  shoulder-fur  and  kick- 
ing hard.  When  the  two  listened  to  him  he 
was  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice :  "  And  so  I 
shall  have  a  tribe  of  my  own,  and  lead  them 
through  the  branches  all  day  long." 

"What  is  this  new  folly,  little  dreamer  of 
dreams  ?  "  said  Bagheera. 

"  Yes,  and  throw  branches  and  dirt  at  old  Ba- 
loo,"  Mowgli  went  on.  "They  have  promised 
me  this,  ah  ! " 

"Whoof!"  Baloo's  big  paw  scooped  Mowgli 
off  Bagheera's  back,  and  as  the  boy  lay  between 
the  big  fore  paws  he  could  see  the  bear  was 
angry. 

"  Mowgli,"  said  Baloo,  "  thou  hast  been  talking 
with  the  Bandar-log  —  the  Monkey  People." 

Mowgli  looked  at  Bagheera  to  see  if  the  pan- 
ther was  angry  too,  and  Bagheera's  eyes  were  as 
hard  as  jade-stones. 

"Thou  hast  been  with  the  Monkey  People  — 
the  gray  apes  —  the  people  without  a  Law  —  the 
eaters  of  everything.     That  is  great  shame," 


KAA'S   HUNTING  S3 

"  When  Baloo  hurt  my  head,"  said  Mowgli  (he 
was  still  down  on  his  back),  "  I  went  away,  and 
the  gray  apes  came  down  from  the  trees  and  had 
pity  on  me.  No  one  else  cared."  He  snuffled  a 
little. 

"The  pity  of  the  Monkey  People!"  Baloo 
snorted. 

"The  stillness  of  the  mountain  stream!  The 
cool  of  the  summer  sun  !     And  then,  man-cub  ? " 

"And  then— and  then  they  gave  me  nuts  and 
pleasant  things  to  eat,  and  they — they  carried 
me  in  their  arms  up  to  the  top  of  the  trees  and 
said  I  was  their  blood-brother,  except  that  I  had 
no  tail,  and  should  be   their  leader  some  day." 

"  They  have  no  leader,"  said  Bagheera.  "  They 
lie.     They  have  always  lied." 

"They  were  very  kind,  and  bade  me  come 
again.  Why  have  I  never  been  taken  among 
the  Monkey  People?  They  stand  on  their  feet 
as  I  do.  They  do  not  hit  me  with  hard  paws. 
They  play  all  day.  Let  me  get  up  !  Bad  Baloo, 
let  me  up  !     I  will  go  play  with  them  again." 

"  Listen,  man-cub,"  said  the  bear,  and  his  voice 
rumbled  like  thunder  on  a  hot  night.  "  I  have 
taught  thee  all  the  Law  of  the  Jungle  for  all  the 
Peoples  of  the  Jungle  —  except  the  Monkey  Folk 
who  live  in  the  trees.    They  have  no  Law.    They 


54  THE    JUNGLE    BOOK 

are  outcastes.  They  have  no  speech  of  their  own, 
but  use  the  stolen  words  which  they  overhear 
when  they  listen  and  peep  and  wait  up  above  in 
the  branches.  Their  way  is  not  our  way.  They 
are  without  leaders.  They  have  no  remem- 
brance. They  boast  and  chatter  and  pretend 
that  they  are  a  great  people  about  to  do  great 
affairs  in  the  jungle,  but  the  falling  of  a  nut 
turns  their  minds  to  laughter,  and  all  is  forgotten. 
We  of  the  jungle  have  no  dealings  with  them. 
We  do  not  drink  where  the  monkeys  drink ; 
we  do  not  go  where  the  monkeys  go ;  we  do  not 
hunt  where  they  hunt;  we  do  not  die  where  they 
die.  Hast  thou  ever  heard  me  speak  of  the 
Bandar-log  till  to-day  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Mowgli  in  a  whisper,  for  the  forest 
was  very  still  now  that  Baloo  had  finished. 

"The  Jungle  People  put  them  out  of  their 
mouths  and  out  of  their  minds.  They  are  very 
many,  evil,  dirty,  shameless,  and  they  desire,  if 
they  have  any  fixed  desire,  to  be  noticed  by  the 
Jungle  People.  But  we  do  not  notice  them  even 
when  they  throw  nuts  and  filth  on  our  heads." 

He  had  hardly  spoken  when  a  shower  of  nuts 
and  twigs  spattered  down  through  the  branches ; 
and  they  could  hear  coughings  and  howlings  and 
angry  jumpings  high  up  in  the  air  among  the  thin 
branches. 


KAA'S   HUNTING  55 

"The  Monkey  People  are  forbidden,"  said 
Baloo,  "  forbidden  to  the  Jungle  People.  Re- 
member." 

"  Forbidden,"  said  Bagheera;  "but  I  still  think 
Baloo  should  have  warned  thee  against  them." 

"I  —  I?  How  was  I  to  guess  he  would  play 
with  such  dirt     The  Monkey  People  !    Faugh ! " 

A  fresh  shower  came  down  on  their  heads,  and 
the  two  trotted  away,  taking  Mowgli  with  them. 
What  Baloo  had  said  about  the  monkeys  was 
perfectly  true.  They  belonged  to  the  tree-tops, 
and  as  beasts  very  seldom  look  up,  there  was  no 
occasion  for  the  monkeys  and  the  Jungle  People 
to  cross  one  another's  path.  But  whenever  they 
found  a  sick  wolf,  or  a  wounded  tiger  or  bear, 
the  monkeys  would  torment  him,  and  would  throw 
sticks  and  nuts  at  any  beast  for  fun  and  in  the 
hope  of  being  noticed.  Then  they  would  howl 
and  shriek  senseless  songs,  and  invite  the  Jungle 
People  to  climb  up  their  trees  and  fight  them,  or 
would  start  furious  battles  over  nothing  among 
themselves,  and  leave  the  dead  monkevs  where 
the  Jungle  People  could  see  them. 

They  were  always  just  going  to  have  a  leader 
and  laws  and  customs  of  their  own,  but  they  never 
did,  because  their  memories  would  not  hold  over 
from  day  to  day,  and  so  they  settled  things  by 
making  up  a  saying:  "What  the  Bandar-log  think 


56  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

now  the  Jungle  will  think  later  " ;  and  that  com- 
forted them  a  great  deal.  None  of  the  beasts 
could  reach  them,  but  on  the  other  hand  none 
of  the  beasts  would  notice  them,  and  that  was 
why  they  were  so  pleased  when  Mowgli  came 
to  play  with  them,  and  when  they  heard  how 
angry  Baloo  was. 

They  never  meant  to  do  any  more, —  the  Ban- 
dar-log never  mean  anything  at  all, —  but  one 
of  them  invented  what  seemed  to  him  a  bril- 
liant idea,  and  he  told  all  the  others  that  Mowgli 
would  be  a  useful  person  to  keep  in  the  tribe,  be- 
cause he  could  weave  sticks  together  for  protec- 
tion from  the  wind ;  so,  if  they  caught  him,  they 
could  make  him  teach  them.  Of  course  Mowgli, 
as  a  wood-cutter's  child,  inherited  all  sorts  of  in- 
stincts, and  used  to  make  little  play-huts  of  fallen 
branches  without  thinking  how  he  came  to  do  it. 
The  Monkey  People,  watching  in  the  trees,  con- 
sidered these  huts  most  wonderful.  This  time, 
they  said,  they  were  really  going  to  have  a  leader 
and  become  the  wisest  people  in  the  jungle  —  so 
wise  that  every  one  else  would  notice  and  envy 
them.  Therefore  they  followed  Baloo  and  Bag- 
heera  and  Mowgli  through  the  jungle  very 
quietly  till  it  was  time  for  the  midday  nap,  and 
Mowgli,  who  was  very  much  ashamed  of  himself, 


KAA'S   HUNTING  57 

slept  between  the  panther  and  the  bear,  resol- 
ving to  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  Monkey 
People. 

The  next  thing  he  remembered  was  feeling 
hands  on  his  legs  and  arms,  —  hard,  strong  little 
hands, —  and  then  a  swash  of  branches  in  his 
face ;  and  then  he  was  staring  down  through  the 
swaying  boughs  as  Baloo  woke  the  jungle  with 
his  deep  cries  and  Bagheera  bounded  up  the 
trunk  with  every  tooth  bared.  The  Bandar-log 
howled  with  triumph,  and  scuffled  away  to  the 
upper  branches  where  Bagheera  dared  not  fol- 
low, shouting:  "He  has  noticed  us!  Bag- 
heera has  noticed  us !  All  the  Jungle  People 
admire  us  for  our  skill  and  our  cunning !  "  Then 
they  began  their  flight;  and  the  flight  of  the 
Monkey  People  through  tree-land  is  one  of  the 
things  nobody  can  describe.  They  have  their 
regular  roads  and  cross-roads,  uphills  and  down- 
hills, all  laid  out  from  fifty  to  seventy  or  a  hun- 
dred feet  aboveground,  and  by  these  they  can 
travel  even  at  night  if  necessary. 

Two  of  the  strongest  monkeys  caught  Mowgli 
under  the  arms  and  swung  off  with  him  through 
the  tree-tops,  twenty  feet  at  a  bound.  Had  they 
been  alone  they  could  have  gone  twice  as  fast, 
but    the   boy's   weight   held    them   back.     Sick 


58  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

and  giddy  as  Mowgli  was  he  could  not  help 
enjoying  the  wild  rush,  though  the  glimpses  of 
earth  far  down  below  frightened  him,  and  the 
terrible  check  and  jerk  at  the  end  of  the  swing 
over  nothing  but  empty  air  brought  his  heart 
between  his  teeth. 

His  escort  would  rush  him  up  a  tree  till  he  felt 
the  weak  topmost  branches  crackle  and  bend 
under  them,  and,  then,  with  a  cough  and  a 
whoop,  would  fling  themselves  into  the  air  out- 
ward and  downward,  and  bring  up  hanging  by 
their  hands  or  their  feet  to  the  lower  limbs  of  the 
next  tree.  Sometimes  he  could  see  for  miles  and 
miles  over  the  still  green  jungle,  as  a  man  on  the 
top  of  a  mast  can  see  for  miles  across  the  sea,  and 
then  the  branches  and  leaves  would  lash  him 
across  the  face,  and  he  and  his  two  guards  would 
be  almost  down  to  earth  again. 

So  bounding  and  crashing  and  whooping  and 
yelling,  the  whole  tribe  of  Bandar-log  swept 
along  the  tree-roads  with  Mowgli  their  prisoner. 

For  a  time  he  was  afraid  of  being  dropped ; 
then  he  grew  angry,  but  he  knew  better  than  to 
struggle ;  and  then  he  began  to  think.  The  first 
thing  was  to  send  back  word  to  Baloo  and  Bag- 
heera,  for,  at  the  pace  the  monkeys  were  going, 
he  knew  his  friends  would  be  left  far  behind.     It 


KAA'S    HUNTING  59 

was  useless  to  look  down,  for  he  could  see  only 
the  top  sides  of  the  branches,  so  he  stared  up- 
ward and  saw,  far  away  in  the  blue,  Rann,  the 
Kite,  balancing  and  wheeling  as  he  kept  watch 
over  the  jungle  waiting  for  things  to  die.  Rann 
noticed  that  the  monkeys  were  carrying  some- 
thing, and  dropped  a  few  hundred  yards  to  find 
out  whether  their  load  was  good  to  eat.  He 
whistled  with  surprise  when  he  saw  Mowgli  being 
dragged  up  to  a  tree-top,  and  heard  him  give  the 
Kite  call  for  "  We  be  of  one  blood,  thou  and  I." 
The  waves  of  the  branches  closed  over  the  boy, 
but  Rann  balanced  away  to  the  next  tree  in  time 
to  see  the  little  brown  face  come  up  again.  "  Mark 
my  trail ! "  Mowgli  shouted.  "  Tell  Baloo  of  the 
Seeonee  Pack,  and  Bagheera  of  the  Council  Rock." 

"  In  whose  name,  Brother  ?  "  Rann  had  never 
seen  Mowgli  before,  though  of  course  he  had 
heard  of  him. 

"  Mowgli,  the  Frog.  Man-cub  they  call  me  ! 
Mark  my  tra — il !  " 

The  last  words  were  shrieked  as  he  was  being 
swung  through  the  air,  but  Rann  nodded,  and 
rose  up  till  he  looked  no  bigger  than  a  speck 
of  dust,  and  there  he  hung,  watching  with  his 
telescope  eyes  the  swaying  of  the  tree-tops  as 
Mowgli's  escort  whirled  along. 


6o  THE    JUNGLE   BOOK 

"They  never  go  far,"  he  said,  with  a  chuckle. 
"  They  never  do  what  they  set  out  to  do.  Al- 
ways pecking  at  new  things  are  the  Bandar-log. 
This  time,  if  I  have  any  eyesight,  they  have 
pecked  down  trouble  for  themselves,  for  Baloo  is 
no  fledgling  and  Bagheera  can,  as  I  know,  kill 
more  than  goats." 

Then  he  rocked  on  his  wings,  his  feet  gathered 
up  under  him,  and  waited. 

Meanwhile,  Baloo  and  Bagheera  were  furious 
with  rage  and  grief.  Bagheera  climbed  as  he  had 
never  climbed  before,  but  the  branches  broke  be- 
neath his  weight,  and  he  slipped  down,  his  claws 
full  of  bark. 

"Why  didst  thou  not  warn  the  man-cub!"  he 
roared  to  poor  Baloo,  who  had  set  off  at  a  clumsy 
trot  in  the  hope  of  overtaking  the  monkeys. 
"  What  was  the  use  of  half  slaying  him  with 
blows  if  thou  didst  not  warn  him  ? " 

"Haste!  O  haste!  We  —  we  may  catch  them 
yet !  "  Baloo  panted. 

"At  that  speed !  It  would  not  tire  a  wounded 
cow.  Teacher  of  the  Law,  cub-beater  —  a  mile 
of  that  rolling  to  and  fro  would  burst  thee  open. 
Sit  still  and  think !  Make  a  plan.  This  is  no 
time  for  chasing.  They  may  drop  him  if  we 
follow  too  close." 


KAA'S   HUNTING  61 

"Arrula!  Whoo!  They  may  have  dropped  him 
already,  being  tired  of  carrying  him.  Who  can 
trust  the  Bandar-log  ?  Put  dead  bats  on  my  head  ! 
Give  me  black  bones  to  eat !  Roll  me  into  the 
hives  of  the  wild  bees  that  I  may  be  stung  to 
death,  and  bury  me  with  the  hyena;  for  I  am 
the  most  miserable  of  bears  !  Arulala!  Wahooa! 
O  Mowgli,  Mowgli !  Why  did  I  not  warn  thee 
against  the  Monkey  Folk  instead  of  breaking  thy 
head  ?  Now  perhaps  I  may  have  knocked  the 
day's  lesson  out  of  his  mind,  and  he  will  be  alone 
in  the  jungle  without  the  Master  Words  !  " 

Baloo  clasped  his  paws  over  his  ears  and 
rolled  to  and  fro,  moaning. 

"At  least  he  gave  me  all  the  Words  correctly 
a  little  time  ago,"  said  Bagheera,  impatiently. 
"  Baloo,  thou  hast  neither  memory  nor  respect. 
What  would  the  jungle  think  if  I,  the  Black 
Panther,  curled  myself  up  like  Ikki,  the  Porcu- 
pine, and  howled  ?  " 

"  What  do  I  care  what  the  jungle  thinks  ?  He 
may  be  dead  by  now." 

"  Unless  and  until  they  drop  him  from  the 
branches  in  sport,  or  kill  him  out  of  idleness,  I 
have  no  fear  for  the  man -cub.  He  is  wise  and 
well-taught,  and,  above  all,  he  has  the  eyes  that 
make  the  Jungle  People  afraid.     But  (and  it  is  a 


62  THE    JUNGLE    BOOK 

great  evil)  he  is  in  the  power  of  the  Bandar-log, 
and  they,  because  they  live  in  trees,  have  no  fear 
of  any  of  our  people."  Bagheera  licked  his  one 
fore  paw  thoughtfully. 

"  Fool  that  I  am  !  Oh  fat,  brown,  root-digging 
fool  that  I  am!"  said  Baloo,  uncoiling  himself 
with  a  jerk.  "  It  is  true  what  Hathi,  the  Wild 
Elephant,  says:  '  To  each  his  own  fear1 ;  and 
they,  the  Bandar-log,  fear  Kaa,  the  Rock  Snake. 
He  can  climb  as  well  as  they  can.  He  steals 
the  young  monkeys  in  the  night.  The  mere 
whisper  of  his  name  makes  their  wicked  tails 
cold.     Let  us  go  to  Kaa.  " 

"  What  will  he  do  for  us  ?  He  is  not  of  our 
tribe,  being  footless  and  with  most  evil  eyes," 
said  Bagrheera. 

"  He  is  very  old  and  very  cunning.  Above  all, 
he  is  always  hungry,"  said  Baloo,  hopefully. 
"  Promise  him  many  goats." 

"He  sleeps  for  a  full  month  after  he  has  once 
eaten.  He  may  be  asleep  now,  and  even  were 
he  awake,  what  if  he  would  rather  kill  his  own 
goats?"  Bagheera,  who  did  not  know  much 
about  Kaa,  was  naturally  suspicious. 

"  Then  in  that  case,  thou  and  I  together,  old 
hunter,  may  make  him  see  reason."  Here  Baloo 
rubbed  his  faded    brown    shoulder   against    the 


KAA'S    HUNTING  63 

panther,  and  they  went  off  to  look  for  Kaa,  the 
Rock  Python. 

They  found  him  stretched  out  on  a  warm 
ledge  in  the  afternoon  sun,  admiring  his  beautiful 
new  coat,  for  he  had  been  in  retirement  for  the 
last  ten  days  changing  his  skin,  and  now  he  was 
very  splendid — darting  his  big  blunt-nosed  head 
along  the  ground,  and  twisting  the  thirty  feet  of 
his  body  into  fantastic  knots  and  curves,  and  lick- 
ing his  lips  as  he  thought  of  his  dinner  to  come. 

"  He  has  not  eaten,"  said  Baloo,  with  a  grunt 
of  relief,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  beautifully  mot- 
tled brown  and  yellow  jacket.  "  Be  careful,  Bag- 
heera !  He  is  always  a  little  blind  after  he  has 
changed  his  skin,   and  very  quick  to  strike." 

Kaa  was  not  a  poison  snake  —  in  fact  he 
rather  despised  the  Poison  Snakes  for  cowards ; 
but  his  strength  lay  in  his  hug,  and  when  he  had 
once  lapped  his  huge  coils  round  anybody  there 
was  no  more  to  be  said.  "  Good  hunting  !  "  cried 
Baloo,  sitting  up  on  his  haunches.  Like  all 
snakes  of  his  breed  Kaa  was  rather  deaf,  and 
did  not  hear  the  call  at  first.  Then  he  curled  up 
ready  for  any  accident,  his  head  lowered. 

"  Good  hunting  for  us  all,"  he  answered. 
"Oho,  Baloo,  what  dost  thou  do  here?  Good 
hunting,  Bagheera.     One   of  us  at  least  needs 


64.  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

food.  Is  there  any  news  of  game  afoot?  A  doe 
now,  or  even  a  young  buck?  I  am  as  empty  as 
a  dried  well." 

"We  are  hunting,"  said  Baloo,  carelessly.  He 
knew  that  you  must  not  hurry  Kaa.  He  is  too 
big. 

"Give  me  permission  to  come  with  you,"  said 
Kaa.  "A  blow  more  or  less  is  nothing  to  thee, 
Bagheera  or  Baloo,  but  I  —  I  have  to  wait  and 
wait  for  days  in  a  wood  path  and  climb  half  a  night 
on  the  mere  chance  of  a  young  ape.  Pss  naw! 
The  branches  are  not  what  they  were  when  I  was 
young.    Rotten  twigs  and  dry  boughs  are  they  all." 

"  Maybe  thy  great  weight  has  something  to 
do  with  the  matter,"  said  Baloo. 

"  I  am  a  fair  length  —  a  fair  length,"  said  Kaa, 
with  a  little  pride.  "  But  for  all  that,  it  is  the 
fault  of  this  new-grown  timber.  I  came  very  near 
to  falling  on  my  last  hunt, —  very  near  indeed, — 
and  the  noise  of  my  slipping,  for  my  tail  was  not 
tight  wrapped  round  the  tree,  waked  the  Bandar- 
log, and  they  called  me  most  evil  names." 

"  'Footless,  yellow  earthworm,'"  said  Bagheera 
under  his  whiskers,  as  though  he  were  trying  to 
remember  something. 

"  Sssss!  Have  they  ever  called  me  that  ?  "  said 
Kaa. 


KAA'S   HUNTING  65 

"  Something  of  that  kind  it  was  that  they 
shouted  to  us  last  moon,  but  we  never  noticed 
them.  They  will  say  anything  —  even  that  thou 
hast  lost  all  thy  teeth,  and  dare  not  face  anything 
bigger  than  a  kid,  because  (they  are  indeed  shame- 
less, these  Bandar-log)  —  because  thou  art  afraid 
of  the  he-goats'  horns,"  Bagheera  went  on  sweetly. 

Now  a  snake,  especially  a  wary  old  python  like 
Kaa,  very  seldom  shows  that  he  is  angry;  but 
Baloo  and  Bagheera  could  see  the  big  swallow- 
ing muscles  on  either  side  of  Kaa's  throat  ripple 
and  bulge. 

"The  Bandar-log  have  shifted  their  grounds,"he 
said,  quietly.  "When  I  came  up  into  the  sun  to- 
day I  heard  them  whooping  among  the  tree-tops." 

"It — it  is  the  Bandar-log  that  we  follow  now," 
said  Baloo;  but  the  words  stuck  in  his  throat,  for 
this  was  the  first  time  in  his  memory  that  one  of 
the  Jungle  People  had  owned  to  being  interested 
in  the  doings  of  the  monkeys. 

"Beyond  doubt,. then,  it  is  no  small  thing  that 
takes  two  such  hunters  —  leaders  in  their  own 
jungle,  I  am  certain  —  on  the  trail  of  the  Bandar- 
log," Kaa  replied,  courteously,  as  he  swelled  with 
curiosity. 

"  Indeed,"  Baloo  began,  "  I  am  no  more  than 
the  old,  and  sometimes  very  foolish,  Teacher  of 


66  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  Law  to  the  Seeonee  wolf-cubs,  and  Bagheera 
here  —  " 

"Is  Bagheera,"  said  the  Black  Panther,  and  his 
jaws  shut  with  a  snap,  for  he  did  not  believe  in 
being  humble.  "  The  trouble  is  this,  Kaa.  Those 
nut-stealers  and  pickers  of  palm-leaves  have 
stolen  away  our  man-cub,  of  whom  thou  hast 
perhaps  heard." 

"  I  heard  some  news  from  Ikki  (his  quills  make 
him  presumptuous)  of  a  man-thing  that  was  en- 
tered into  a  wolf-pack,  but  I  did  not  believe.  Ikki 
is  full  of  stories  half  heard  and  very  badly  told." 

"  But  it  is  true.  He  is  such  a  man-cub  as  never 
was,"  said  Baloo.  "  The  best  and  wisest  and  bold- 
est of  man-cubs.  My  own  pupil,  who  shall  make 
the  name  of  Baloo  famous  through  all  the  jun- 
gles;  and  besides,  I — we  —  love  him,  Kaa." 

"  Tsf  Tsf"  said  Kaa,  shaking  his  head  to  and 
fro.  "  I  also  have  known  what  love  is.  There 
are  tales  I  could  tell  that  —  " 

"That  need  a  clear  night  when  we  are  all  well 
fed  to  praise  properly,"  said  Bagheera,  quickly. 
"  Our  man-cub  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Bandar-log 
now,  and  we  know  that  of  all  the  Jungle  People 
they  fear  Kaa  alone." 

"They  fear  me  alone.  They  have  good  rea- 
son," said  Kaa.      "Chattering,    foolish,   vain — • 


KAA'S   HUNTING  67 

vain,  foolish,  and  chattering-  —  are  the  monkeys. 
But  a  man-thing  in  their  hands  is  in  no  good 
luck.  They  grow  tired  of  the  nuts  they  pick, 
and  throw  them  down.  They  carry  a  branch 
half  a  day,  meaning  to  do  great  things  with  it, 
and  then  they  snap  it  in  two.  That  manling  is 
not  to  be  envied.  They  called  me  also — 'yellow 
fish,'  was  it  not  ?  " 

"Worm — worm — earthworm,"  said  Bagheera; 
"  as  well  as  other  things  which  I  cannot  now  say 
for  shame." 

"  We  must  remind  them  to  speak  well  of  their 
master.  Aaa-sssh!  We  must  help  their  wander- 
ing memories.  Now,  whither  went  they  with  thy 
cub  ?  " 

"The  jungle  alone  knows.  Toward  the  sun- 
set, I  believe,"  said  Baloo.  "  We  had  thought 
that  thou  wouldst  know,  Kaa." 

"  I  ?  How  ?  I  take  them  when  they  come  in 
my  way,  but  I  do  not  hunt  the  Bandar-log  —  or 
frogs  —  or  green  scum  on  a  water-hole,  for  that 
matter." 

"Up,  up!  Up,  up!  Hillof  Illof  Illot  Look 
up,  Baloo  of  the  Seeonee  Wolf  Pack ! " 

Baloo  looked  up  to  see  where  the  voice  came 
from,  and  there  was  Rann,  the  Kite,  sweeping 
down   with   the   sun   shining  on   the    upturned 


68  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

flanges  of  his  wings.  It  was  near  Rann's  bed- 
time, but  he  had  ranged  all  over  the  jungle  look- 
ing for  the  bear,  and  missed  him  in  the  thick 
foliage. 

"  What  is  it?  "  said  Baloo. 

"  I  have  seen  Mowgli  among  the  Bandar-log. 
He  bade  me  tell  you.  I  watched.  The  Bandar- 
log have  taken  him  beyond  the  river  to  the  Mon- 
key City — to  the  Cold  Lairs.  They  may  stay 
there  for  a  night,  or  ten  nights,  or  an  hour.  I 
have  told  the  bats  to  watch  through  the  dark 
time.  That  is  my  message.  Good  hunting,  all 
you  below  !  " 

"  Full  gorge  and  a  deep  sleep  to  you,  Rann!" 
cried  Bagheera.  "  I  will  remember  thee  in  my 
next  kill,  and  put  aside  the  head  for  thee  alone* 
O  best  of  kites  !  " 

"  It  is  nothing.  It  is  nothing.  The  boy  held 
the  Master  Word.  I  could  have  done  no  less," 
and  Rann  circled  up  again  to  his  roost. 

"  He  has  not  forgotten  to  use  his  tongue,"  said 
Baloo,  with  a  chuckle  of  pride.  "  To  think  of 
one  so  young  remembering  the  Master  Word  for 
the  birds  while  he  was  being  pulled  across  trees  ! " 

"  It  was  most  firmly  driven  into  him,"  said 
Bagheera.  "  But  I  am  proud  of  him,  and  now 
we  must  go  to  the  Cold  Lairs." 


KAA'S   HUNTING  69 

They  all  knew  where  that  place  was,  but  few 
of  the  Jungle  People  ever  went  there,  because 
what  they  called  the  Cold  Lairs  was  an  old 
deserted  city,  lost  and  buried  in  the  jungle,  and 
beasts  seldom  use  a  place  that  men  have  once 
used.  The  wild  boar  will,  but  the  hunting-tribes 
do  not.  Besides,  the  monkeys  lived  there  as 
much  as  they  could  be  said  to  live  anywhere, 
and  no  self-respecting  animal  would  come  within 
eye-shot  of  it  except  in  times  of  drouth,  when 
the  half-ruined  tanks  and  reservoirs  held  a  little 
water. 

"  It  is  half  a  night's  journey  — at  full  speed," 
said  Bagheera.  Baloo  looked  very  serious.  "  1 
will  go  as  fast  as  I  can,"  he  said,  anxiously. 

"  We  dare  not  wait  for  thee.  Follow,  Baloo. 
We  must  go  on  the  quick-foot ■ —  Kaa  and  I." 

"  Feet  or  no  feet,  I  can  keep  abreast  of  all  thy 
four,"  said  Kaa,  shortly. 

Baloo  made  one  effort  to  hurry,  but  had  to  sit 
down  panting,  and  so  they  left  him  to  come  on 
later,  while  Bagheera  hurried  forward,  at  the  rock- 
ing panther-canter.  Kaa  said  nothing,  but,  strive 
as  Bagheera  might,  the  huge  Rock  Python  held 
level  with  him.  When  they  came  to  a  hill-stream, 
Bagheera  gained,  because  he  bounded  across 
while  Kaa  swam,  his  head  and  two  feet  of  his 


70  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

neck  clearing  the  water,  but  on  level  ground  Kaa 
made  up  the  distance. 

11  By  the  Broken  Lock  that  freed  me,"  said 
Bagheera,  when  twilight  had  fallen,  "  thou  art  no 
slow-goer." 

"  I  am  hungry,"  said  Kaa.  "  Besides,  they 
called  me  speckled  frog." 

"  Worm — earthworm,  and  yellow  to  boot." 

"All  one.  Let  us  go  on,"  and  Kaa  seemed 
to  pour  himself  along  the  ground,  finding  the 
shortest  road  with  his  steady  eyes,  and  keeping 
to  it. 

In  the  Cold  Lairs  the  Monkey  People  were 
not  thinking  of  Mowgli's  friends  at  all.  They  had 
brought  the  boy  to  the  Lost  City,  and  were  very 
pleased  with  themselves  for  the  time.  Mowgli 
had  never  seen  an  Indian  city  before,  and  though 
this  was  almost  a  heap  of  ruins  it  seemed  very 
wonderful  and  splendid.  Some  king  had  built  it 
long  ago  on  a  little  hill.  You  could  still  trace 
the  stone  causeways  that  led  up  to  the  ruined 
gates  where  the  last  splinters  of  wood  hung  to  the 
worn,  rusted  hinges.  Trees  had  grown  into  and 
out  of  the  walls ;  the  battlements  were  tumbled 
down  and  decayed,  and  wild  creepers  hung  out  of 
the  windows  of  the  towers  on  the  walls  in  bushy 
hanging  clumps, 


KAA'S   HUNTING  71 

A  great  roofless  palace  crowned  the  hill,  and 
the  marble  of  the  courtyards  and  the  fountains 
was  split  and  stained  with  red  and  green,  and  the 
very  cobblestones  in  the  courtyard  where  the 
king's  elephants  used  to  live  had  been  thrust  up 
and  apart  by  grasses  and  young  trees.  From  the 
palace  you  could  see  the  rows  and  rows  of  roofless 
houses  that  made  up  the  city,  looking  like  empty 
honeycombs  filled  with  blackness ;  the  shapeless 
block  of  stone  that  had  been  an  idol  in  the 
square  where  four  roads  met ;  the  pits  and  dim- 
ples at  street  corners  where  the  public  wells  once 
stood,  and  the  shattered  domes  of  temples  with 
wild  figs  sprouting  on  their  sides. 

The  monkeys  called  the  place  their  city,  and 
pretended  to  despise  the  Jungle  People  because 
they  lived  in  the  forest.  And  yet  they  never 
knew  what  the  buildings  were  made  for  nor  how 
to  use  them.  They  would  sit  in  circles  on  the 
hall  of  the  king's  council-chamber,  and  scratch 
for  fleas  and  pretend  to  be  men ;  or  they  would 
run  in  and  out  of  the  roofless  houses  and  collect 
pieces  of  plaster  and  old  bricks  in  a  corner,  and 
forget  where  they  had  hidden  them,  and  fight 
and  cry  in  scuffling  crowds,  and  then  break  off  to 
play  up  and  down  the  terraces  of  the  king's  gar- 
den, where  they  would  shake  the  rose-trees  and 


72  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  oranges  in  sport  to  see  the  fruit  and  flowers 
fall.  They  explored  all  the  passages  and  dark 
tunnels  in  the  palace  and  the  hundreds  of  little 
dark  rooms ;  but  they  never  remembered  what 
they  had  seen  and  what  they  had  not,  and  so 
drifted  about  in  ones  and  twos  or  crowds,  telling 
one  another  that  they  were  doing  as  men  did. 
They  drank  at  the  tanks  and  made  the  water  all 
muddy,  and  then  they  fought  over  it,  and  then 
they  would  all  rush  together  in  mobs  and  shout: 
"There  are  none  in  the  jungle  so  wise  and  good 
and  clever  and  strong  and  gentle  as  the  Bandar- 
log." Then  all  would  begin  again  till  they  grew 
tired  of  the  city  and  went  back  to  the  tree-tops, 
hoping  the  Jungle  People  would  notice  them. 

Mowodi,  who  had  been  trained  under  the  Law 
of  the  Jungle,  did  not  like  or  understand  this 
kind  of  life.  The  monkeys  dragged  him  into  the 
Cold  Lairs  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  instead  of 
going  to  sleep,  as  Mowgli  would  have  done  after 
a  long  journey,  they  joined  hands  and  danced 
about  and  sang  their  foolish  songs. 

One  of  the  monkeys  made  a  speech,  and  told 
his  companions  that  Mowgli's  capture  marked  a 
new  thing  in  the  history  of  the  Bandar-log,  for 
Mowgli  was  going  to  show  them  how  to  weave 
sticks  and  canes  together  as  a  protection  against 


KAA'S   HUNTING  73 

rain  and  cold.  Mowgli  picked  up  some  creepers 
and  began  to  work  them  in  and  out,  and  the 
monkeys  tried  to  imitate ;  but  in  a  very  few  min- 
utes they  lost  interest  and  began  to  pull  their 
friends'  tails  or  jump  up  and  down  on  all  fours, 
coughing. 

"  I  want  to  eat,"  said  Mowgli.  "  I  am  a 
stranger  in  this  part  of  the  jungle.  Bring  me 
food,  or  give  me  leave  to  hunt  here." 

Twenty  or  thirty  monkeys  bounded  away  to 
bring  him  nuts  and  wild  pawpaws;  but  they  fell 
to  fighting  on  the  road,  and  it  was  too  much 
trouble  to  go  back  with  what  was  left  of  the  fruit. 
Mowgli  was  sore  and  angry  as  well  as  hungry, 
and  he  roamed  through  the  empty  city  giving  the 
Strangers'  Hunting  Call  from  time  to  time,  but 
no  one  answered  him,  and  Mowgli  felt  that  he 
had  reached  a  very  bad  place  indeed. 

"All  that  Baloo  has  said  about  the  Bandar-log 
is  true,"  he  thought  to  himself.  "  They  have 
no  Law,  no  Hunting  Call,  and  no  leaders  — 
nothing  but  foolish  words  and  little  picking, 
thievish  hands.  So  if  I  am  starved  or  killed 
here,  it  will  be  all  my  own  fault.  But  I  must  try 
to  return  to  my  own  jungle.  Baloo  will  surely 
beat  me,  but  that  is  better  than  chasing  silly 
rose-leaves  with  the  Bandar-log." 


74  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

But  no  sooner  had  he  walked  to  the  city  wall 
than  the  monkeys  pulled  him  back,  telling  him 
that  he  did  not  know  how  happy  he  was,  and 
pinching  him  to  make  him  grateful.  He  set  his 
teeth  and  said  nothing,  but  went  with  the  shout- 
ing monkeys  to  a  terrace  above  the  red  sand- 
stone reservoirs  that  were  half  full  of  rain-water. 
There  was  a  ruined  summer-house  of  white 
marble  in  the  center  of  the  terrace,  built  for 
queens  dead  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  domed 
roof  had  half  fallen  in  and  blocked  up  the  un- 
derground passage  from  the  palace  by  which  the 
queens  used  to  enter;  but  the  walls  were  made 
of  screens  of  marble  tracery  —  beautiful,  milk- 
white  fretwork,  set  with  agates  and  cornelians 
and  jasper  and  lapis  lazuli,  and  as  the  moon 
came  up  behind  the  hill  it  shone  through  the 
openwork,  casting  shadows  on  the  ground  like 
black-velvet  embroidery. 

Sore,  sleepy,  and  hungry  as  he  was,  Mowgli 
could  not  help  laughing  when  the  Bandar-log 
began,  twenty  at  a  time,  to  tell  him  how  great 
and  wise  and  strong  and  gentle  they  were,  and 
how  foolish  he  was  to  wish  to  leave  them.  "We 
are  great.  We  are  free.  We  are  wonderful.  We 
are  the  most  wonderful  people  in  all  the  jungle! 
We  all  say  so,  and  so  it  must  be  true,"  they 


KAA'S  HUNTING  75 

shouted.  "  Now  as  you  are  a  new  listener  and 
can  carry  our  words  back  to  the  Jungle  People 
so  that  they  may  notice  us  in  future,  we  will  tell 
you  all  about  our  most  excellent  selves." 

Mowgli  made  no  objection,  and  the  monkeys 
gathered  by  hundreds  and  hundreds  on  the  ter- 
race to  listen  to  their  own  speakers  singing  the 
praises  of  the  Bandar-log,  and  whenever  a  speaker 
stopped  for  want  of  breath  they  would  all  shout 
together:  "This  is  true  ;  we  all  say  so." 

Mowgli  nodded  and  blinked,  and  said  "Yes" 
when  they  asked  him  a  question,  and  his  head 
spun  with  the  noise.  "Tabaqui,  the  Jackal,  must 
have  bitten  all  these  people,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"  and  now  they  have  the  madness.  Certainly 
this  is  dewanee  —  the  madness.  Do  they  never 
go  to  sleep  ?  Now  there  is  a  cloud  coming  to 
cover  that  moon.  If  it  were  only  a  big  enough 
cloud  I  might  try  to  run  away  in  the  darkness. 
But  I  am  tired." 

That  same  cloud  was  being  watched  by  two 
good  friends  in  the  ruined  ditch  below  the  city 
wall,  for  Bagheera  and  Kaa,  knowing  well  how 
dangerous  the  Monkey  People  were  in  large 
numbers,  did  not  wish  to  run  any  risks.  The 
monkeys  never  fight  unless  they  are  a  hundred 
to  one,  and  few  in  the  jungle  care  for  those  odds. 


76  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  I  will  go  to  the  west  wall,"  Kaa  whispered, 
"and  come  down  swiftly  with  the  slope  of  the 
ground  in  my  favor.  They  will  not  throw  them- 
selves upon  my  back  in  their  hundreds,  but—" 

"I  know  it,"  said  Bagheera.  "Would  that 
Baloo  were  here ;  but  we  must  do  what  we  can. 
When  that  cloud  covers  the  moon  I  shall  go  to 
the  terrace.  They  hold  some  sort  of  council 
there  over  the  boy." 

"  Good  hunting,"  said  Kaa,  grimly,  and  glided 
away  to  the  west  wall.  That  happened  to  be  the 
least  ruined  of  any,  and  the  big  snake  was  de- 
layed a  while  before  he  could  find  a  way  up  the 
stones. 

The  cloud  hid  the  moon,  and  as  Mowgli  won- 
dered what  would  come  next  he  heard  Bagheera's 
light  feet  on  the  terrace.  The  Black  Panther  had 
raced  up  the  slope  almost  without  a  sound,  and 
was  striking  —  he  knew  better  than  to  waste  time 
in  biting  — right  and  left  among  the  monkeys, 
who  were  seated  round  Mowgli  in  circles  fifty  and 
sixty  deep.  There  was  a  howl  of  fright  and  rage, 
and  then  as  Bagheera  tripped  on  the  rolling, 
kicking  bodies  beneath  him,  a  monkey  shouted : 
"There  is  only  one  here  !  Kill  him  !  Kill!"  A 
scuffling  mass  of  monkeys,  biting,  scratching, 
tearing,  and  pulling,  closed  over  Bagheera,  while 


KAA'S   HUNTING  77 

five  or  six  laid  hold  of  Mowgli,  dragged  him  up 
the  wall  of  the  summer-house,  and  pushed  him 
through  the  hole  of  the  broken  dome.  A  man- 
trained  boy  would  have  been  badly  bruised,  for 
the  fall  was  a  good  ten  feet,  but  Mowgli  fell  as 
Baloo  had  taught  him  to  fall,  and  landed  light. 

"Stay  there,"  shouted  the  monkeys,  "till  we 
have  killed  thy  friend.  Later  we  will  play  with 
thee,  if  the  Poison  People  leave  thee  alive." 

"We  be  of  one  blood,  ye  and  I,"  said  Mowgli, 
quickly  giving  the  Snake's  Call.  He  could  hear 
rustling  and  hissing  in  the  rubbish  all  round  him, 
and  gave  the  Call  a  second  time  to  make  sure. 

"  Down  hoods  all,"  said  half  a  dozen  low 
voices.  Every  old  ruin  in  India  becomes  sooner 
or  later  a  dwelling-place  of  snakes,  and  the  old 
summer-house  was  alive  with  cobras.  "Stand 
still,   Little  Brother,  lest  thy  feet  do  us  harm." 

Mowgli  stood  as  quietly  as  he  could,  peering 
through  the  openwork  and  listening  to  the  furi- 
ous din  of  the  fight  round  the  Black  Panther  — 
the  yells  and  chatterings  and  scufflings,  and  Bag- 
heera's  deep,  hoarse  cough  as  he  backed  and 
bucked  and  twisted  and  plunged  under  the  heaps 
of  his  enemies.  For  the  first  time  since  he  was 
born,  Bagheera  was  fighting  for  his  life. 

"  Baloo  must  be  at  hand ;   Bagheera  would  not 


78  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

have  come  alone,"  Mowgli  thought;  and  then  he 
called  aloud:  " To  the  tank,  Bagheera  !  Roll  to 
the  water-tanks  !  Roll  and  plunge  !  Get  to  the 
water ! " 

Bagheera  heard,  and  the  cry  that  told  him 
Mowgli  was  safe  gave  him  new  courage.  He 
worked  his  way  desperately,  inch  by  inch, 
straight  for  the  reservoirs,  hitting  in  silence. 

Then  from  the  ruined  wall  nearest  the  jungle 
rose  up  the  rumbling  war-shout  of  Baloo.  The 
old  bear  had  done  his  best,  but  he  could  not 
come  before.  "Bagheera,"  he  shouted,  "I  am 
here!  I  climb!  I  haste!  Ahuwora!  The 
stones  slip  under  my  feet !  Wait  my  coming,  O 
most  infamous  Bandar  log  !  " 

He  panted  up  the  terrace  only  to  disappear  to 
the  head  in  a  wave  of  monkeys,  but  he  threw 
himself  squarely  on  his  haunches,  and  spreading 
out  his  fore  paws,  hugged  as  many  as  he  could 
hold,  and  then  began  to  hit  with  a  regular  bat- 
bat-bat,  like  the  flipping  strokes  of  a  paddle- 
wheel. 

A  crash  and  a  splash  told  Mowgli  that  Bag- 
heera had  fought  his  way  to  the  tank,  where 
the  monkeys  could  not  follow.  The  panther  lay 
gasping  for  breath,  his  head  just  out  of  water, 
while  the  monkeys  stood  three  deep  on  the  red 


KAA'S   HUNTING  79 

stone  steps,  dancing  up  and  down  with  rage, 
ready  to  spring  upon  him  from  all  sides  if  he  came 
out  to  help  Baloo.  It  was  then  that  Bagheera 
lifted  up  his  dripping  chin,  and  in  despair  gave 
the  Snake's  Call  for  protection, —  "We  be  of  one 
blood,  ye  and  I," — for  he  believed  that  Kaa  had 
turned  tail  at  the  last  minute.  Even  Baloo,  hall 
smothered  under  the  monkeys  on  the  edge  of  the 
terrace,  could  not  help  chuckling  as  he  heard  the 
big  Black  Panther  asking  for  help. 

Kaa  had  only  just  worked  his  way  over  the 
west  wall,  landing  with  a  wrench  that  dislodged 
a  coping-stone  into  the  ditch.  He  had  no  inten- 
tion of  losing  any  advantage  of  the  ground,  and 
coiled  and  uncoiled  himself  once  or  twice,  to  be 
sure  that  every  foot  of  his  long  body  was  in 
working  order. 

All  that  while  the  fight  with  Baloo  went  on, 
and  the  monkeys  yelled  in  the  tank  round  Bag- 
heera, and  Mang,  the  Bat,  flying  to  and  fro,  car- 
ried the  news  of  the  great  battle  over  the  jungle, 
till  even  Hathi,  the  Wild  Elephant,  trumpeted, 
and,  far  away,  scattered  bands  of  the  Monkey 
Folk  woke  and  came  leaping  along  the  tree-roads 
to  help  their  comrades  in  the  Cold  Lairs,  and 
the  noise  of  the  fight  roused  all  the  day-birds 
for  miles  round. 


8o  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

Then  Kaa  came  straight,  quickly,  and  anxious 
to  kill.  The  fighting  strength  of  a  python  is  in 
the  driving  blow  of  his  head,  backed  by  all  the 
strength  and  weight  of  his  body.  If  you  can  im- 
agine a  lance,  or  a  battering-ram,  or  a  hammer, 
weighing  nearly  half  a  ton  driven  by  a  cool, 
quiet  mind  living  in  the  handle  of  it,  you  can 
imagine  roughly  what  Kaa  was  like  when  he 
fought.  A  python  four  or  five  feet  long  can 
knock  a  man  down  if  he  hits  him  fairly  in  the 
chest,  and  Kaa  was  thirty  feet  long,  as  you 
know.  His  first  stroke  was  delivered  into  the 
heart  of  the  crowd  round  Baloo — was  sent  home 
with  shut  mouth  in  silence,  and  there  was  no 
need  of  a  second.  The  monkeys  scattered  with 
cries  of  "Kaa!     It  is  Kaa  !     Run!     Run!" 

Generations  of  monkeys  had  been  scared  into 
good  behavior  by  the  stories  their  elders  told 
them  of  Kaa,  the  night-thief,  who  could  slip 
along  the  branches  as  quietly  as  moss  grows,  and 
steal  away  the  strongest  monkey  that  ever  lived ; 
of  old  Kaa,  who  could  make  himself  look  so  like 
a  dead  branch  or  a  rotten  stump  that  the  wisest 
were  deceived  till  the  branch  caught  them,  and 
then  — 

Kaa  was  everything  that  the  monkeys  feared 
in  the  jungle,  for  none  of  them  knew  the  limits 


KAA'S   HUNTING  81 

of  his  power,  none  of  them  could  look  him  in 
the  face,  and  none  had  ever  come  alive  out 
of  his  hug.  And  so  they  ran,  stammering 
with  terror,  to  the  walls  and  the  roofs  of  the 
houses,  and  Baloo  drew  a  deep  breath  of  relief. 
His  fur  was  much  thicker  than  Bagheera's,  but 
he  had  suffered  sorely  in  the  fight  Then  Kaa 
opened  his  mouth  for  the  first  time  and  spoke 
one  long  hissing  word,  and  the  far-away 
monkeys,  hurrying  to  the  defense  of  the  Cold 
Lairs,  stayed  where  they  were,  cowering,  till  the 
loaded  branches  bent  and  crackled  under  them. 
The  monkeys  on  the  walls  and  the  empty  houses 
stopped  their  cries,  and  in  the  stillness  that  fell 
upon  the  city  Mowgli  heard  Bagheera  shaking 
his  wet  sides  as  he  came  up  from  the  tank. 

Then  the  clamor  broke  out  again.  The 
monkeys  leaped  higher  up  the  walls  ;  they  clung 
round  the  necks  of  the  big  stone  idols  and 
shrieked  as  they  skipped  along  the  battlements ; 
while  Mowgli,  dancing  in  the  summer-house, 
put  his  eye  to  the  screenwork  and  hooted  owl- 
fashion  between  his  front  teeth,  to  show  his 
derision  and  contempt. 

"  Get  the  man-cub  out  of  that  trap ;  I  can  do 
no  more,"  Bagheera  gasped.  "  Let  us  take  the 
man-cub  and  go.    They  may  attack  again" 


82  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"  They  will  not  move  till  I  order  them.  Stay 
you  sssso ! "  Kaa  hissed,  and  the  city  was  silent 
once  more.  "  I  could  not  come  before,  Brother,  but 
I  think  I  heard  thee  call "  —  this  was  to  Bagheera. 

"I  —  I  may  have  cried  out  in  the  battle,"  Bag- 
heera answered.      "  Baloo,  art  thou  hurt?" 

"  I  am  not  sure  that  they  have  not  pulled  me 
into  a  hundred  little  bearlings,"  said  Baloo, 
gravely  shaking  one  leg  after  the  other.  "Wow! 
I  am  sore.  Kaa,  we  owe  thee,  I  think,  our  lives 
—  Bagheera  and  I." 

"No  matter.     Where  is  the  manling?" 

"Here,  in  a  trap.  I  cannot  climb  out,"  cried 
Mowgli.  The  curve  of  the  broken  dome  was 
above  his  head. 

"Take  him  away.  He  dances  like  Mao,  the 
Peacock.  He  will  crush  our  young,"  said  the 
cobras   inside. 

"Hah!"  said  Kaa,  with  a  chuckle,  "he  has 
friends  everywhere,  this  manling.  Stand  back, 
Manling;  and  hide  you,  O  Poison  People.  I 
break  down  the  wall." 

Kaa  looked  carefully  till  he  found  a  discolored 
crack  in  the  marble  tracery  showing  a  weak  spot, 
made  two  or  three  light  taps  with  his  head  to  get 
the  distance,  and  then  lifting  up  six  feet  of  his 
body  clear  of  the  ground,  sent  home  half  a  dozen 


KAA'S   HUNTING  83 

full-power,  smashing  blows,  nose-first.  The 
screenwork  broke  and  fell  away  in  a  cloud  of  dust 
and  rubbish,  and  Mowgli  leaped  through  the 
opening  and  flung  himself  between  Baloo  and 
Bagheera  —  an   arm  round  each  big  neck. 

"Art  thou  hurt?"  said  Baioo,  hugging  him 
softly. 

"I  am  sore,  hungry,  and  not  a  little  bruised; 
but,  oh,  they  have  handled  ye  grievously,  my 
Brothers !     Ye  bleed." 

"  Others  also,"  said  Bagheera,  licking  his  lips 
and  looking  at  the  monkey-dead  on  the  terrace 
and  round  the  tank. 

'  It  is  nothing,  it  is  nothing  if  thou  art  safe,  O 
my  pride  of  all  little  frogs  !  "  whimpered  Baloo. 

"  Of  that  we  shall  judge  later,"  said  Bagheera, 
in  a  dry  voice  that  Mowgli  did  not  at  all  like. 
"  But  here  is  Kaa,  to  whom  we  owe  the  battle 
and  thou  owest  thy  life.  Thank  him  according 
to  our  customs,  Mowgli." 

Mowgli  turned  and  saw  the  great  python's 
head  swaying  a  foot  above  his  own. 

"So  this  is  the  manling,"  said  Kaa.  "Very 
soft  is  his  skin,  and  he  is  not  so  unlike  the 
Bandar-log.  Have  a  care,  Manling,  that  I  do 
not  mistake  thee  for  a  monkey  some  twilight 
when  I  have  newly  changed  my  coat." 


84  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"We  be  of  one  blood,  thou  and  I,"  Mowgli 
answered.  "  I  take  my  life  from  thee,  to-night. 
My  kill  shall  be  thy  kill  if  ever  thou  art  hungry, 
O  Kaa." 

"All  thanks,  Little  Brother,"  said  Kaa,  though 
his  eyes  twinkled.  "And  what  may  so  bold  a 
hunter  kill  ?  I  ask  that  I  may  follow  when  next 
he  goes  abroad." 

"  I  kill  nothing, —  I  am  too  little, —  but  I  drive 
goats  toward  such  as  can  use  them.  When  thou 
art  empty  come  to  me  and  see  if  I  speak  the 
truth.  I  have  some  skill  in  these  [he  held  out 
his  hands],  and  if  ever  thou  art  in  a  trap,  I  may 
pay  the  debt  which  I  owe  to  thee,  to  Bagheera, 
and  to  Baloo,  here.  Good  hunting  to  ye  all, 
my  masters." 

"Well  said,"  growled  Baloo,  for  Mowgli  had 
returned  thanks  very  prettily.  The  python 
dropped  his  head  lightly  for  a  minute  on  Mow- 
gli's  shoulder.  "  A  brave  heart  and  a  courteous 
tongue,"  said  he.  "They  shall  carry  thee  far 
through  the  jungle,  Manling.  But  now  go  hence 
quickly  with  thy  friends.  Go  and  sleep,  for  the 
moon  sets,  and  what  follows  it  is  not  well  that 
thou  shouldst  see." 

The  moon  was  sinking  behind  the  hills  and 
the  lines  of  trembling  monkeys  huddled  together 


KAA'S  HUNTING  85 

on  the  walls  and  battlements  looked  like  ragged, 
shaky  fringes  of  things.  Baloo  went  down  to 
the  tank  for  a  drink,  and  Bagheera  began  to 
put  his  fur  in  order,  as  Kaa  glided  out  into  the 
center  of  the  terrace  and  brought  his  jaws  to- 
gether with  a  ringing  snap  that  drew  all  the 
monkeys'  eyes  upon  him. 

"  The  moon  sets,"  he  said.  "  Is  there  yet  light 
to  see?" 

From  the  walls  came  a  moan  like  the  wind  in 
the  tree-tops:  "We  see,  O  Kaa!" 

"Good!  Begins  now  the  Dance — the  Dance 
of  the  Hunger  of  Kaa.    Sit  still  and  watch." 

He  turned  twice  or  thrice  in  a  big  circle,  weav- 
ing his  head  from  right  to  left.  Then  he  began 
making  loops  and  figures  of  eight  with  his  body, 
and  soft,  oozy  triangles  that  melted  into  squares 
and  five-sided  figures,  and  coiled  mounds,  never 
resting,  never  hurrying,  and  never  stopping  his 
low,  humming  song.  It  grew  darker  and  darker, 
till  at  last  the  dragging,  shifting  coils  disap- 
peared, but  they  could  hear  the  rustle  of  the 
scales. 

Baloo  and  Bagheera  stood  still  as  stone, 
growling  in  their  throats,  their  neck-hair  brist- 
ling, and  Mowgli  watched  and  wondered. 

"  Bandar-log,"  said  the  voice  of  Kaa  at  last, 


86  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"can  ye  stir  foot  or  hand  without  my  order? 
Speak ! " 

"Without  thy  order  we  cannot  stir  foot  or 
hand,  O  Kaa  ! " 

"  Good  !     Come  all  one  pace  nearer  to  me." 

The  lines  of  the  monkeys  swayed  forward 
helplessly,  and  Baloo  and  Bagheefa  took  one 
stiff  step  forward  with  them. 

"Nearer!"  hissed  Kaa,  and  they  all  moved 
again. 

Mowgli  laid  his  hands  on  Baloo  and  Bagheera 
to  get  them  away,  and  the  two  great  beasts 
started  as  though  they  had  been  waked  from  a 
dream. 

"Keep  thy  hand  on  my  shoulder,"  Bagheera 
whispered.  "  Keep  it  there,  or  I  must  go  back — 
must  go  back  to  Kaa.     A  ah  /  " 

"It  is  only  old  Kaa  making  circles  on  the 
dust,"  said  Mowgli ;  "let  us  go";  and  the  three 
slipped  off  through  a  gap  in  the  walls  to  the 
jungle. 

"Whoof!"  said  Baloo,  when  he  stood  under 
the  still  trees  again.  "  Never  more  will  I  make 
an  ally  of  Kaa,"  and  he  shook  himself  all  over. 

"He  knows  more  than  we,"  said  Bagheera, 
trembling.  "  In  a  little  time,  had  I  stayed,  I 
should  have  walked  down  his  throat." 


KAA'S   HUNTING  87 

"Many  will  walk  that  road  before  the  moon 
rises  again,"  said  Baloo.  "  He  will  have  good 
hunting — after  his  own  fashion." 

"But  what  was  the  meaning  of  it  all?"  said 
Mowgli,  who  did  not  know  anything  of  a  py- 
thon's powers  of  fascination.  "  I  saw  no  more 
than  a  big  snake  making  foolish  circles  till  the 
dark  came.   And  his  nose  was  all  sore.    Ho!  Ho!" 

"Mowgli,"  said  Bagheera,  angrily,  "his  nose 
was  sore  on  thy  account ;  as  my  ears  and  sides  and 
paws,  and  Baloo's  neck  and  shoulders  are  bitten 
on  thy  account.  Neither  Baloo  nor  Bagheera  will 
be  able  to  hunt  with  pleasure  for  many  days." 

"It  is  nothing,"  said  Baloo;  "we  have  the 
man-cub  again." 

"True;  but  he  has  cost  us  most  heavily  in 
time  which  might  have  been  spent  in  good  hunt- 
ing, in  wounds,  in  hair, — I  am  half  plucked  along 
my  back, — and  last  of  all,  in  honor.  For,  remem- 
ber, Mowgli,  I,  who  am  the  Black  Panther,  was 
forced  to  call  upon  Kaa  for  protection,  and  Baloo 
and  I  were  both  made  stupid  as  little  birds  by 
the  Hunger-Dance.  All  this,,  Man-cub,  came  of 
thy  playing  with  the  Bandar-log." 

"True;  it  is  true,"  said  Mowgli,  sorrowfully. 
41 1  am  an  evil  man-cub,  and  my  stomach  is 
sad   in    me," 


88  THE  JUNGLE    BOOK 

"■Mff  What  says  the  Law  of  the  Jungle, 
Baloo?" 

Baloo  did  not  wish  to  bring  Mowgli  into  any- 
more trouble,  but  he  could  not  tamper  with  the 
Law,  so  he  mumbled,  "Sorrow  never  stays  punish- 
ment.   But  remember,  Bagheera,  he  is  very  little." 

"I  will  remember;  but  he  has  done  mischief ; 
and  blows  must  be  dealt  now.  Mowgli,  hast  thou 
anything  to  say  ?  " 

"  Nothing.  I  did  wrong.  Baloo  and  thou 
art   wounded.      It    is    just." 

Bagheera  gave  him  half  a  dozen  love-taps  ; 
from  a  panther's  point  of  view  they  would  hardly 
have  waked  one  of  his  own  cubs,  but  for  a  seven 
year-old  boy  they  amounted  to  as  severe  a  beat- 
ing as  you  could  wish  to  avoid.  When  it  was  all 
over  Mowgli  sneezed,  and  picked  himself  up 
without  a  word. 

"Now,"  said  Bagheera,  "jump  on  my  back, 
Little  Brother,  and  we  will  go  home." 

One  of  the  beauties  of  Jungle  Law  is  that 
punishment  settles  all  scores.  There  is  no  nag- 
ging afterward. 

Mowg-li.laid  his  head  down  on  Bao-heera's  back 
and  slept  so  deeply  that  he  never  waked  when 
he  was  put  down  by  Mother  Wolf's  side  in  the 
home-cave, 


KAA'S    HUNTING  89 

ROAD-SONG   OF  THE   BANDAR-LOG 

Here  we  go  in  a  flung  festoon, 

Half-way  up  to  the  jealous  moon  ! 

Don't  you  envy  our  pranceful  bands  ? 

Don't  you  wish  you  had  extra  hands  ? 

Would  n't  you  like  if  your  tails  were  —  so  — 

Curved  in  the  shape  of  a  Cupid's  bow  ? 
Now  you  're  angry,  but  —  never  mind, 
Brother,  thy  tail  hangs  down  behind 7 

Here  we  sit  in  a  branchy  row, 
Thinking  of  beautiful  things  we  know  ; 
Dreaming  of  deeds  that  we  mean  to  do, 
All  complete,   in  a  minute  or  two — ■ 
Something  noble  and  grand  and  good, 
Won  by  merely  wishing  we  could. 

Now  we're  going  to  —  never  mind, 
Brother,  thy  tail  hangs  down  behind ! 

All  the  talk  we  ever  have  heard 

Uttered  by  bat  or  beast  or  bird  — 

Hide  or  fin  or  scale  or  feather  — 

Jabber  it  quickly  and  all  together  ! 

Excellent !     Wonderful !     Once  again  ! 

Now  we  are  talking  just  like  men. 

Let  's  pretend  we  are  .   .   .   never  mind, 
Brother,  thy  tail  hangs  down  behind ! 
This  is  the  way  of  the  Monkey-kind. 

Then  join  our  leaping  lines  that  scnmfish  through  the 

pines, 
That  rocket  by  where,  light  and  high,  the  wild-grape 

swings. 
By  the  rubbish  in  our  wake,  and  the   noble  noise   we 

make, 
Be   sure,  be   sure,  we  're  going  to    do    some  splendid 

things  I 


TIGER!    TIGER! 


What  of  the  hunting,  hunter  bold? 

Brother,  the  watch  was  long  and  cold. 
What  of  the  quarry  ye  went  to  kill  ? 

Brother,  he  crops  in  the  jungle  still 
Where  is  the  power  that  made  your  pride; 

Brother,  it  ebbs  from  my  flank  and  side. 
Where  is  the  haste  that  ye  hurry  by  ? 

Brother,  I  go  to  my  lair —  to  die. 


J^LcNV-'  , 


-TIGER!   TIGER!" 

NOW  we  must  go  back  to  the  last  tale  but 
one.  When  Mowgli  left  the  wolf's  cave 
after  the  fight  with  the  Pack  at  the  Council 
Rock,  he  went  down  to  the  plowed  lands  where 
the  villagers  lived,  but  he  would  not  stop  there 
because  it  was  too  near  to  the  jungle,  and  he 
knew  that  he  had  made  at  least  one  bad  enemy 
at  the  Council.  So  he  hurried  on,  keeping  to  the 
rough  road  that  ran  down  the  valley,  and  followed 
it  at  a  steady  jog-trot  for  nearly  twenty  miles, 
till  he  came  to  a  country  that  he  did  not  know. 
The  valley  opened  out  into  a  great  plain  dotted 


94  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

over  with  rocks  and  cut  up  by  ravines.  At  one 
end  stood  a  little  village,  and  at  the  other  the 
thick  jungle  came  down  in  a  sweep  to  the  graz- 
ing-grounds,  and  stopped  there  as  though  it  had 
been  cut  off  with  a  hoe.  All  over  the  plain,  cattle 
and  buffaloes  were  grazing,  and  when  the  little 
boys  in  charge  of  the  herds  saw  Mowgli  they 
shouted  and  ran  away,  and  the  yellow  pariah 
dogs  that  hang  about  every  Indian  village  barked. 
Mowgli  walked  on,  for  he  was  feeling  hungry, 
and  when  he  came  to  the  village  gate  he  saw  the 
big  thorn-bush  that  was  drawn  up  before  the  gate 
at  twilight,  pushed  to  one  side. 

"  Umph  ! "  he  said,  for  he  had  come  across 
more  than  one  such  barricade  in  his  night  ram- 
bles after  things  to  eat.  •'  So  men  are  afraid  of 
the  People  of  the  Jungle  here  also."  He  sat 
down  by  the  gate,  and  when  a  man  came  out  he 
stood  up,  opened  his  mouth,  and  pointed  down  it 
to  show  that  he  wanted  food.  The  man  stared, 
and  ran  back  up  the  one  street  of  the  village 
shouting  for  the  priest,  who  was  a  big,  fat  man 
dressed  in  white,  with  a  red  and  yellow  mark  on 
his  forehead.  The  priest  came  to  the  gate,  and 
with  him  at  least  a  hundred  people,  who  stared 
and  talked  and  shouted  and  pointed  at  Mowgli. 

"They  have  no  manners,  these   Men   Folk," 


"'TIGER!   TIGER!*  95 

said  Mowgli  to  himself.  "  Only  the  gray  ape 
would  behave  as  they  do."  So  he.  threw  back 
his  long  hair  and  frowned  at  the  crowd. 

"What  is  there  to  be  afraid  of?"  said  the 
priest.  "Look  at  the  marks  on  his  arms  and 
legs.  They  are  the  bites  of  wolves.  He  is  but 
a'  wolf-child  run  away  from  the  jungle." 

Of  course,  in  playing  together,  the  cubs  had 
often  nipped  Mowgli  harder  than  they  intended, 
and  there  were  white  scars  all  over  his  arms  and 
legs.  But  he  would  have  been  the  last  person  in 
the  world  to  call  these  bites ;  for  he  knew  what 
real  biting  meant. 

" Arre /  Arre'/"  said  two  or  three  women 
together.  "To  be  bitten  by  wolves,  poor  child! 
He  is  a  handsome  boy.  He  has  eyes  like  red 
fire.  By  my  honor,  Messua,  he  is  not  unlike 
thy  boy  that  was  taken  by  the  tiger." 

"  Let  me  look,"  said  a  woman  with  heavy 
copper  rings  on  her  wrists  and  ankles,  and  she 
peered  at  Mowgli  under  the  palm  of  her  hand. 
"Indeed  he  is  not.  He  is  thinner,  but  he  has 
the  very  look  of  my  boy." 

The  priest  was  a  clever  man,  and  he  knew  that 
Messua  was  wife  to  the  richest  villager  in  the 
place.  So  he  looked  up  at  the  sky  for  a  minute, 
and  said  solemnly:   "What  the  jungle  has  taken 


9o  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  jungle  has  restored.  Take  the  boy  into  thy 
house,  my  sister,  and  forget  not  to  honor  the 
priest  who    sees   so   far  into  the  lives  of  men." 

"By  the  Bull  that  bought  me,"  said  Mowgli  to 
himself,  "but  all  this  talking  is  like  another  look- 
ing-over  by  the  Pack  !  Well,  if  I  am  a  man,  a 
man  I  must  become." 

The  crowd  parted  as  the  woman  beckoned 
Mowgli  to  her  hut,  where  there  was  a  red  lac- 
quered bedstead,  a  great  earthen  grain-chest  with 
curious  raised  patterns  on  it,  half  a  dozen  copper 
cooking-pots,  an  image  of  a  Hindu  god  in  a  little 
alcove,  and  on  the  wall  a  real  looking-glass,  such 
as  they  sell  at  the  country  fairs. 

She  gave  him  a  long  drink  of  milk  and  some 
bread,  and  then  she  laid  her  hand  on  his  head 
and  looked  into  his  eyes ;  for  she  thought  per- 
haps that  he  might  be  her  real  son  come  back 
from  the  jungle  where  the  tiger  had  taken  him. 
So  she  said :  "  Nathoo,  O  Nathoo  !  "  Mowgli  did 
not  show  that  he  knew  the  name.  "Dost  thou  not 
remember  the  day  when  I.  gave  thee  thy  new 
shoes?"  She  touched  his  foot,  and  it  was  almost 
as  hard  as  horn.  "No,"  she  said,  sorrowfully; 
"those  feet  have  never  worn  shoes,  but  thou  art 
very  like  my  Nathoo,  and  thou  shalt  be  my  son." 

Mowgli   was   uneasy,   because   he   had  never 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  97 

been  under  a  roof  before ;  but  as  he  looked  at 
the  thatch,  he  saw  that  he  could  tear  it  out  any- 
time if  he  wanted  to  get  away,  and  that  the 
window  had  no  fastenings.  "  What  is  the  good 
of  a  man,"  he  said  to  himself  at  last,  "if  he  does 
not  understand  man's  talk  ?  Now  I  am  as  silly 
and  dumb  as  a  man  would  be  with  us  in  the 
jungle.     I   must  learn  their  talk." 

It  was  not  for  fun  that  he  had  learned  while 
he  was  with  the  wolves  to  imitate  the  challenge 
of  bucks  in  the  jungle  and  the  grunt  of  the  little 
wild  pig.  So  as  soon  as  Messua  pronounced  a 
word  Mowgli  would  imitate  it  almost  perfectly, 
and  before  dark  he  had  learned  the  names  of 
many  things  in   the  hut. 

There  was  a  difficulty  at  bedtime,  because 
Mowgli  would  not  sleep  under  anything  that 
looked  so  like  a  panther-trap  as  that  hut,  and 
when  they  shut  the  door  he  went  through  the 
window.  "Give  him  his  will,"  said  Messua's 
husband.  "  Remember  he  can  never  till  now 
have  slept  on  a  bed.  If  he  is  indeed  sent  in 
the  place  of  our  son  he  will  not  run  away." 

So  Mowgli  stretched  himself  in  some  long, 
clean  grass  at  the  edge  of  the  field,  but  before 
he  had  closed  his  eyes  a  soft  gray  nose  poked 
him  under  the  chin. 


98  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"Phew!"  said  Gray  Brother  (he  was  the 
eldest  of  Mother  Wolf's  cubs).  "This  is  a  poor 
reward  for  following  thee  twenty  miles.  Thou 
smellest  of  wood-smoke  and  cattle  —  altogether 
like  a  man  already.  Wake,  Little  Brother;  I 
bring  news." 

"Are  all  well  in  the  jungle?"  said  Mowgli, 
hugging  him. 

"All  except  the  wolves  that  were  burned  with 
the  Red  Flower.  Now,  listen.  Shere  Khan  has 
gone  away  to  hunt  far  off  till  his  coat  grows 
again,  for  he  is  badly  singed.  When  he  returns 
he  swears  that  he  will  lay  thy  bones  in  the 
Waingunga." 

"  There  are  two  words  to  that.  I  also  have 
made  a  little  promise.  But  news  is  always  good. 
I  am  tired  to-night, — very  tired  with  new  things, 
Gray  Brother, —  but  bring  me  the  news  always." 

"Thou  wilt  not  forget  that  thou  art  a  wolf? 
Men  will  not  make  thee  forget  ? "  said  Gray 
Brother,  anxiously. 

"  Never.  I  will  always  remember  that  I  love 
thee  and  all  in  our  cave ;  but  also  I  will  always 
remember  that  I  have  been  cast  out  of  the 
Pack." 

"And  that  thou  mayest  be  cast  out  of  another 
pack.     Men  are  only  men,   Little  Brother,  and 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  101 

their  talk  is  like  the  talk  of  frogs  in  a  pond. 
When  I  come  down  here  again,  I  will  wait  for 
thee  in  the  bamboos  at  the  edge  of  the  grazing- 
ground." 

For  three  months  after  that  night  Mowgli 
hardly  ever  left  the  village  gate,  he  was  so  busy 
learning  the  ways  and  customs  of  men.  First  he 
had  to  wear  a  cloth  round  him,  which  annoyed 
him  horribly;  and  then  he  had  to  learn  about 
money,  which  he  did  not  in  the  least  understand, 
and  about  plowing,  of  which  he  did  not  see  the 
use.  Then  the  little  children  in  the  village  made 
him  very  angry.  Luckily,  the  Law  of  the  Jungle 
had  taught  him  to  keep  his  temper,  for  in  the 
jungle,  life  and  food  depend  on  keeping  your 
temper ;  but  when  they  made  fun  of  him  because 
he  would  not  play  games  or  fly  kites,  or  because 
he  mispronounced  some  word,  only  the  know- 
ledge that  it  was  unsportsmanlike  to  kill  little 
naked  cubs  kept  him  from  picking  them  up  and 
breaking  them  in  two. 

He  did  not  know  his  own  strength  in  the 
least.  In  the  jungle  he  knew  he  was  weak  com- 
pared with  the  beasts,  but  in  the  village,  people 
said  he  was  as  strong  as  a  bull. 

And  Mowgli  had  not  the  faintest  idea  of  the 
difference    that   caste   makes  between   man   and 


102  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

man.  When  the  potter's  donkey  slipped  in  the 
clay-pit,  Mowgli  hauled  it  out  by  the  tail,  and 
helped  to  stack  the  pots  for  their  journey  to  the 
market  at  Khanhiwara.  That  was  very  shock- 
ing, too,  for  the  potter  is  a  low-caste  man,  and 
his  donkey  is  worse.  When  the  priest  scolded 
him,  Mowgli  threatened  to  put  him  on  the  don- 
key, too,  and  the  priest  told  Messua's  husband 
that  Mowgli  had  better  be  set  to  work  as  soon 
as  possible;  and  the  village  head-man  told  Mow- 
gli that  he  would  have  to  go  out  with  the  buf- 
faloes next  day,  and  herd  them  while  they  grazed. 
No  one  was  more  pleased  than  Mowgli;  and 
that  night,  because  he  had  been  appointed  a 
servant  of  the  village,  as  it  were,  he  went  off  to 
a  circle  that  met  every  evening  on  a  masonry 
platform  under  a  great  fig-tree.  It  was  the  vil- 
lage club,  and  the  head-man  and  the  watchman 
and  the  barber  (who  knew  all  the  gossip  of  the 
village),  and  old  Buldeo,  the  village  hunter,  who 
had  a  Tower  musket,  met  and  smoked.  The 
monkeys  sat  and  talked  in  the  upper  branches, 
and  there  was  a  hole  under  the  platform  where  a 
cobra  lived,  and  he  had  his  little  platter  of  milk 
every  night  because  he  was  sacred  ;  and  the  old 
men  sat  around  the  tree  and  talked,  and  pulled 
at  the  big  huqas  (the  water-pipes)  till  far  into  the 


" TIGER t   TIGER!"  103 

night.  They  told  wonderful  tales  of  gods  and 
men  and  ghosts;  and  Buldeo  told  even  more 
wonderful  ones  of  the  ways  of  beasts  in  the 
jungle,  till  the  eyes  of  the  children  sitting  outside 
the  circle  bulged  out  of  their  heads.  Most  of  the 
tales  were  about  animals,  for  the  jungle  was  al- 
ways at  their  door.  The  deer  and  the  wild  pig 
grubbed  up  their  crops,  and  now  and  again  the 
tiger  carried  off  a  man  at  twilight,  within  sight 
of  the  village  gates. 

Mowgli,  who  naturally  knew  something  about 
what  they  were  talking  of,  had  to  cover  his  face 
not  to  show  that  he  was  laughing,  while  Buldeo, 
the  Tower  musket  across  his  knees,  climbed  on 
from  one  wonderful  story  to  another,  and  Mow- 
gli's  shoulders  shook. 

Buldeo  was  explaining  how  the  tiger  that  had 
carried  away  Messua's  son  was  a  ghost-tiger,  and 
his  body  was  inhabited  by  the  ghost  of  a  wicked 
old  money-lender,  who  had  died  some  years  ago. 
"And  I  know  that  this  is  true,"  he  said,  "because 
Purun  Dass  always  limped  from  the  blow  that 
he  got  in  a  riot  when  his  account-books  were 
burned,  and  the  tiger  that  I  speak  of  he  limps, 
too,  for  the  tracks  of  his  pads  are  unequal." 

"True,  true;  that  must  be  the  truth,"  said  the 
graybeards,  nodding  together. 


104  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  Are  all  these  tales  such  cobwebs  and  moon- 
talk?  "  said  Mowgli.  "That  tiger  limps  because 
he  was  born  lame,  as  every  one  knows.  To  talk 
of  the  soul  of  a  money-lender  in  a  beast  that 
never  had  the  courage  of  a  jackal  is  child's  talk.'' 

Buldeo  was  speechless  with  surprise  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  the  head-man  stared. 

"  Oho  !  It  is  the  jungle  brat,  is  it  ?  "  said  Bul- 
deo. "  If  thou  art  so  wise,  better  bring  his  hide 
to  Khanhiwara,  for  the  Government  has  set  a 
hundred  rupees  [$30]  on  his  life.  Better  still,  do 
not  talk  when  thy  elders  speak." 

Mowgli  rose  to  go.  "All  the  evening  I  have 
lain  here  listening,"  he  called  back  over  his  shoul- 
der, "  and,  except  once  or  twice,  Buldeo  has  not 
said  one  word  of  truth  concerning  the  jungle, 
which  is  at  his  very  doors.  How,  then,  shall  I 
believe  the  tales  of  ghosts  and  gods  and  goblins 
which  he  says  he  has  seen  ?  " 

"  It  is  full  time  that  boy  went  to  herding," 
said  the  head-man,  while  Buldeo  puffed  and 
snorted  at  Mowgli's  impertinence. 

The  custom  of  most  Indian  villages  is  for  a  few 
boys  to  take  the  cattle  and  buffaloes  out  to  graze 
in  the  early  morning,  and  bring  them  back  at 
night ;  and  the  very  cattle  that  would  trample  a 
white  man  to  death  allow  themselves  to  be  banged 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  107 

and  bullied  and  shouted  at  by  children  that  hard- 
ly come  up  to  their  noses.  So  long  as  the  boys 
keep  with  the  herds  they  are  safe,  for  not  even 
the  tiger  will  charge  a  mob  of  cattle.  But  if  they 
straggle  to  pick  flowers  or  hunt  lizards,  they  are 
sometimes  carried  off.  Mowgli  went  through  the 
village  street  in  the  dawn,  sitting  on  the  back  of 
Rama,  the  great  herd  bull ;  and  the  slaty-blue 
buffaloes,  with  their  long,  backward-sweeping 
horns  and  savage  eyes,  rose  out  of  their  byres, 
one  by  one,  and  followed  him,  and  Mowgli  made 
it  very  clear  to  the  children  with  him  that  he  was 
the  master.  He  beat  the  buffaloes  with  a  long, 
polished  bamboo,  and  told  Kamya,  one  of  the 
boys,  to  graze  the  cattle  by  themselves,  while  he 
went  on  with  the  buffaloes,  and  to  be  very  care- 
ful not  to  stray  away  from  the  herd. 

An  Indian  grazing-ground  is  all  rocks  and 
scrub  and  tussocks  and  little  ravines,  among 
which  the  herds  scatter  and  disappear.  The 
buffaloes  generally  keep  to  the  pools  and  muddy 
places,  where  they  lie  wallowing  or  basking  in  the 
warm  mud  for  hours.  Mowgli  drove  them  on  to 
the  edge  of  the  plain  where  the  Waingunga  River 
came  out  .of  the  jungle;  then  he  dropped  from 
Rama's  neck,  trotted  off  to  a  bamboo  clump,  and 
found  Gray  Brother.     "Ah,"  said  Gray  Brother, 


108  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  I  have  waited  here  very  many  days.  What  is 
the  meaning  of  this  cattle-herding  work  ?  " 

"It  is  an  order,"  said  Mowgli.  "I  am  a 
village  herd  for  a  while.  What  news  of  Shere 
Khan  ? " 

"  He  has  come  back  to  this  country,  and  has 
waited  here  a  long  time  for  thee.  Now  he  has 
gone  off  again,  for  the  game  is  scarce.  But  he 
means  to  kill  thee." 

"Very  good,"  said  Mowgli.  "So  long  as  he 
is  away  do  thou  or  one  of  the  brothers  sit  on 
that  rock,  so  that  I  can  see  thee  as  I  come 
out  of  the  village.  When  he  comes  back  wait  for 
me  in  the  ravine  by  the  d/idk-tree  in  the  center 
of  the  plain.  We  need  not  walk  into  Shere 
Khan's  mouth." 

Then  Mowgli  picked  out  a  shady  place,  and 
lay  down  and  slept  while  the  buffaloes  grazed 
round  him.  Herding  in  India  is  one  of  the  lazi- 
est things  in  the  world.  The  cattle  move  and 
crunch,  and  lie  down,  and  move  on  again,  and  they 
do  not  even  low.  They  only  grunt,  and  the  buffa- 
loes very  seldom  say  anything,  but  get  down  into 
the  muddy  pools  one  after  another,  and  work  their 
way  into  the  mud  till  only  their  noses  and  staring 
china-blue  eyes  show  above  the  surface,  and  there 
they  lie  like  logs.      The  sun  makes  the  rocks 


"  TIGER  1   TIGER  i"  109 

dance  in  the  heat,  and  the  herd-children  hear  one 
kite  (never  any  more)  whistling  almost  out  of 
sight  overhead,  and  they  know  that  if  they  died, 
or  a  cow  died,  that  kite  would  sweep  down,  and 
the  next  kite  miles  away  would  see  him  drop  and 
follow,  and  the  next,  and  the  next,  and  almost 
before  they  were  dead  there  would  be  a  score  of 
hungry  kites  come  out  of  nowhere.  Then  they 
sleep  and  wake  and  sleep  again,  and  weave  little 
baskets  of  dried  grass  and  put  grasshoppers  in 
them;  or  catch  two  praying-mantises  and  make 
them  fight;  or  string  a  necklace  of  red  and  black 
jungle-nuts;  or  watch  a  lizard  basking  on  a  rock, 
or  a  snake  hunting  a  frog  near  the  wallows. 
Then  they  sing  long,  long  songs  with  odd  native 
quavers  at  the  end  of  them,  and  the  day  seems 
longer  than  most  people's  whole  lives,  and  per- 
haps they  make  a  mud  castle  with  mud  figures  of 
men  and  horses  and  buffaloes,  and  put  reeds  into 
the  men's  hands,  and  pretend  that  they  are  kings 
and  the  figures  are  their  armies,  or  that  they  are 
gods  to  be  worshiped.  Then  evening  comes, 
and  the  children  call,  and  the  buffaloes  lumber 
up  out  of  the  sticky  mud  with  noises  like  gun- 
shots going  off  one  after  the  other,  and  they  all 
string  across  the  gray  plain  back  to  the  twink- 
ling village  lights. 


IIO 


THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 


Day  after  day  Mowgli  would  lead  the  buffaloes 
out  to  their  wallows,  and  day  after  day  he  would 
see  Gray  Brother's  back  a  mile  and  a  half  away 
across  the  plain  (so  he  knew  that  Shere  Khan 
had  not  come  back),  and  day  after  day  he  would 
lie  on  the  grass  listening  to  the  noise  round  him, 
and  dreaming  of  old  days  in  the  jungle.      If  Shere 


Khan  had  made  a  false  step  with  his  lame  paw  up 
in  the  jungles  by  the  Waingunga,  Mowgli  would 
have  heard  him  in  those  long  still  mornings. 
At  last  a  day  came  when  he  did  not  see  Gray 


"TIGER!    TIGER  I"  III 

Brother  at  the  signal  place,  and  he  laughed  and 
headed  the  buffaloes  for  the  ravine  by  the  dhdk- 
tree,  which  was  all  covered  with  golden-red 
flowers.  There  sat  Gray  Brother,  every  bristle 
on  his  back  lifted. 

"  He  has  hidden  for  a  month  to  throw  thee 
off  thy  guard.  He  crossed  the  ranges  last  night 
with  Tabaqui,  hot-foot  on  thy  trail,"  said  the 
wolf,  panting. 

Mowgli  frowned.  "  I  am  not  afraid  of  Shere 
Khan,  but  Tabaqui  is  very  cunning." 

"  Have  no  fear,"  said  Gray  Brother,  licking  his 
lips  a  little.  "  I  met  Tabaqui  in  the  dawn.  Now 
he  is  telling  all  his  wisdom  to  the  kites,  but  he 
told  me  everything  before  I  broke  his  back. 
Shere  Khan's  plan  is  to  wait  for  thee  at  the 
village  gate  this  evening— for  thee  and  for  no 
one  else.  He  is  lying  up  now  in  the  big  dry 
ravine  of  the  Wamofung-a." 

<s  Has  he  eaten  to-day,  or  does  he  hunt 
empty?"  said  Mowgli,  for  the  answer  meant 
life  or  death  to  him. 

"He  killed  at  dawn, —  a  pigs- — and  he  has 
drunk  too.  Remember,  Shere  Khan  could  never 
fast  even  for  the  sake  of  revenge." 

"Oh!  Fool,  fool!  What  a  cub's  cub  it  is! 
Eaten  and  drunk  too,  and  he  thinks  that  I  shall 


112  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

wait  till  he  has  slept !  Now,  where  does  he  lie 
up  ?  If  there  were  but  ten  of  us  we  might  pull 
him  down  as  he  lies.  These  buffaloes  will  not 
charge  unless  they  wind  him,  and  I  cannot  speak 
their  language.  Can  we  get  behind  his  track  so 
that  they  may  smell  it  ?" 

"  He  swam  far  down  the  Waingunga  to  cut 
that  off,"  said  Gray  Brother. 

"  Tabaqui  told  him  that,  I  know.  He  would 
never  have  thought  of  it  alone."  Mowgli  stood 
with  his  finger  in  his  mouth,  thinking.  "  The  big 
ravine  of  the  Waingunga.  That  opens  out  on  the 
plain  not  half  a  mile  from  here.  I  can  take  the 
herd  round  through  the  jungle  to  the  head  of  the 
ravine  and  then  sweep  down — but  he  would  slink 
out  at  the  foot.  We  must  block  that  end0  Gray 
Brother,  canst  thou  cut  the  herd  in  two  for  me  ? " 

"Not  I,  perhaps  —  but  I  have  brought  a  wise 
helper."  Gray  Brother  trotted  off  and  dropped 
into  a  hole.  Then  there  lifted  up  a  huge  gray 
head  that  Mowgli  knew  well,  and  the  hot  air  was 
filled  with  the  most  desolate  cry  of  all  the  jungle 
—  the  hunting-howl  of  a  wolf  at  midday. 

"  Akela  !  Akela !  "  said  Mowgli,  clapping  his 
hands.  "  I  might  have  known  that  thou  wouldst 
not  forget  me.  We  have  a  big  work  in  hand. 
Cut  the  herd  in  two,  Akela.     Keep  the  cows  and 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  113 

calves  together,  and  the  bulls  and  the  plow-buf- 
faloes by  themselves." 

The  two  wolves  ran,  ladies'-chain  fashion,  in 
and  out  of  the  herd,  which  snorted  and  threw  up 
its  head,  and  separated  into  two  clumps.  In  one 
the  cow-buffaloes  stood,  with  their  calves  in  the 
center,  and  glared  and  pawed,  ready,  if  a  wolf 
would  only  stay  still,  to  charge  down  and  trample 
the  life  out  of  him.  In  the  other  the  bulls  and 
the  young  bulls  snorted  and  stamped;  but, 
though  they  looked  more  imposing,  they  were 
much  less  dangerous,  for  they  had  no  calves  to 
protect.  No  six  men  could  have  divided  the 
herd  so  neatly. 

"What  orders!"  panted  Akela.  "They  are 
trying  to  join  again." 

Mowgli  slipped  on  to  Rama's  back.  "  Drive 
the  bulls  away  to  the  left,  Akela.  Gray  Brother, 
when  we  are  gone  hold  the  cows  together,  and 
drive  them  into  the  foot  of  the  ravine." 

"How  far?"  said  Gray  Brother,  panting  and 
snapping. 

"Till  the  sides  are  higher  than  Shere  Khan 
can  jump,"  shouted  Mowgli.  "  Keep  them  there 
till  we  come  down."  The  bulls  swept  off  as 
Akela  bayed,  and  Gray  Brother  stopped  in  front 
of  the  cows.     They  charged  down  on  him,  and 


114  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

he  ran  just  before  them  to  the  foot  of  the  ravine, 
as  Akela  drove  the  bulls  far  to  the  left. 

"  Well  done !  Another  charge  and  they  are 
fairly  started.  Careful,  now  —  careful,  Akela. 
A  snap  too  much,  and  the  bulls  will  charge. 
Hujah  I  This  is  wilder  work  than  driving  black- 
buck.  Didst  thou  think  these  creatures  could 
move  so   swiftly  ?  "   Mowgli   called. 

"  I  have  —  have  hunted  these  too  in  my  time," 
gasped  Akela  in  the  dust.  "  Shall  I  turn  them 
into  the  jungle  ?  " 

"  Ay,  turn !  Swiftly  turn  them.  Rama  is 
mad  with  rage.  Oh,  if  I  could  only  tell  him 
what  I  need  of  him  to-day  ! " 

The  bulls  were  turned  to  the  right  this  time, 
and  crashed  into  the  standing  thicket.  The 
other  herd-children,  watching  with  the  cattle  half 
a  mile  away,  hurried  to  the  village  as  fast  as  their 
legs  could  carry  them,  crying  that  the  buffaloes 
had  gone  mad  and  run  away. 

But  Mowgli's  plan  was  simple  enough.  All 
he  wanted  to  do  was  to  make  a  big  circle  uphill 
and  get  at  the  head  of  the  ravine,  and  then  take 
the  bulls  down  it  and  catch  Shere  Khan  between 
the  bulls  and  the  cows,  for  he  knew  that  after  a 
meal  and  a  full  drink  Shere  Khan  would  not  be 
in  any  condition  to  fight  or  to  clamber  up  the 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  115 

sides  of  the  ravine.  He  was  soothing  the  buf- 
faloes now  by  voice,  and  Akela  had  dropped  far 
to  the  rear,  only  whimpering  once  or  twice  to 
hurry  the  rear- guard.  It  was  a  long,  long  circle, 
for  they  did  not  wish  to  get  too  near  the  ravine 
and  give  Shere  Khan  warning.  At  last  Mowgli 
rounded  up  the  bewildered  herd  at  the  head  of 
the  ravine  on  a  grassy  patch  that  sloped  steeply 
down  to  the  ravine  itself.  From  that  height  you 
could  see  across  the  tops  of  the  trees  down  to  the 
plain  below ;  but  what  Mowgli  looked  at  was  the 
sides  of  the  ravine,  and  he  saw  with  a  great  deal 
of  satisfaction  that  they  ran  nearly  straight  up 
and  down,  and  the  vines  and  creepers  that  hung 
over  them  would  give  no  foothold  to  a  tiger  who 
wanted  to  get  out. 

"  Let  them  breathe,  Akela,"  he  said,  holding 
up  his  hand.  "  They  have  not  winded  him  yet. 
Let  them  breathe.  I  must  tell  Shere  Khan  who 
comes.     We  have  him  in  the  trap." 

He  put  his  hands  to  his  mouth  and  shouted 
down  the  ravine, —  it  was  almost  like  shouting 
down  a  tunnel, —  and  the  echoes  jumped  from 
rock  to  rock. 

After  a  long  time  there  came  back  the  draw- 
ling, sleepy  snarl  of  a  full-fed  tiger  just  awak- 
ened. 


116  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

"Who  calls? "said  Shere  Khan,  and  a  splen- 
did peacock  fluttered  up  out  of  the  ravine, 
screeching. 

"I,  Mowgli.  Cattle-thief,  it  is  time  to  come 
to  the  Council  Rock  !  Down — hurry  them  down, 
Akela.     Down,  Rama,  down  !  " 

The  herd  paused  for  an  instant  at  the  edge  of 
the  slope,  but  Akela  gave  tongue  in  the  full 
hunting-yell,  and  they  pitched  over  one  after  the 
other  just  as  steamers  shoot  rapids,  the  sand 
and  stones  spurting  up  round  them.  Once 
started,  there  was  no  chance  of  stopping,  and  be- 
fore they  were  fairly  in  the  bed  of  the  ravine 
Rama  winded  Shere  Khan  and  bellowed. 

"Ha!  Ha!  "  said  Mowgli,  on  his  back.  "Now 
thou  knowest!"  and  the  torrent  of  black  horns, 
foaming  muzzles,  and  staring  eyes  whirled  down 
the  ravine  like  boulders  in  flood-time ;  the  weaker 
buffaloes  being  shouldered  out  to  the  sides  of  the 
ravine  where  they  tore  through  the  creepers. 
They  knew  what  the  business  was  before  them — 
the  terrible  charge  of  the  buffalo-herd,  against 
which  no  tiger  can  hope  to  stand.  Shere  Khan 
heard  the  thunder  of  their  hoofs,  picked  him- 
self up,  and  lumbered  down  the  ravine,  looking 
from  side  to  side  for  some  way  of  escape,  but  the 
walls  of  the  ravine  were  straight,  and  he  had  to 


"TIGER!  TIGER!"  117 

keep  on,  heavy  with  his  dinner  and  his  drink, 
willing  to  do  anything  rather  than  fight.  The 
herd  splashed  through  the  pool  he  had  just  left, 
bellowing  till  the  narrow  cut  rang.  Mowgli 
heard  an  answering  bellow  from  the  foot  of  the  ra- 
vine, saw  Shere  Khan  turn  (the  tiger  knew  if  the 
worst  came  to  the  worst  it  was  better  to  meet  the 
bulls  than  the  cows  with  their  calves),  and  then 
Rama  tripped,  stumbled,  and  went  on  again  over 
something  soft,  and,  with  the  bulls  at  his  heels, 
crashed  full  into  the  other  herd,  while  the  weaker 
buffaloes  were  lifted  clean  off  their  feet  by  the 
shock  of  the  meeting.  That  charge  carried  both 
herds  out  into  the  plain,  goring  and  stamping  and 
snorting.  Mowgli  watched  his  time,  and  slipped 
off  Rama's  neck,  laying  about  him  right  and  left 
with  his  stick. 

"Quick,  Akela!  Break  them  up.  Scatter 
them,  or  they  will  be  fighting  one  another.  Drive 
them  away,  Akela.  Hai,  Rama  !  Hai  /  hai  / 
hai  /  my  children.  Softly  now,  softly  !  It  is  all 
over." 

Akela  and  Gray  Brother  ran  to  and  fro  nipping 
the  buffaloes'  legs,  and  though  the  herd  wheeled 
once  to  charge  up  the  ravine  again,  Mowgli  man- 
aged to  turn  Rama,  and  the  others  followed  him 
to  the  wallows. 


u8  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

Shere  Khan  needed  no  more  trampling.  He 
was  dead,  and  the  kites  were  coming  for  him 
already. 

"  Brothers,  that  was  a  dog's  death,"  said 
Mowgli,  feeling  for  the  knife  he  always  carried 
in  a  sheath  round  his  neck  now  that  he  lived 
with  men.  "  But  he  would  never  have  shown 
fight.  His  hide  will  look  well  on  the  Council 
Rock.     We  must  get  to  work  swiftly." 

A  boy  trained  among  men  would  never  have 
dreamed  of  skinning  a  ten-foot  tiger  alone,  but 
Mowgli  knew  better  than  any  one  else  how  an 
animal's  skin  is  fitted  on,  and  how  it  can  be  taken 
off.  But  it  was  hard  work,  and  Mowgli  slashed 
and  tore  and  grunted  for  an  hour,  while  the 
wolves  lolled  out  their  tongues,  or  came  forward 
and  tugged  as  he  ordered  them. 

Presently  a  hand  fell  on  his  shoulder,  and  look- 
ing up  he  saw  Buldeo  with  the  Tower  musket. 
The  children  had  told  the  village  about  the  buf- 
falo stampede,  and  Buldeo  went  out  angrily,  only 
too  anxious  to  correct  Mowgli  for  not  taking 
better  care  of  the  herd.  The  wolves  dropped  out 
of  sight  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  man  coming. 

"What  is  this  folly  ?"  said  Buldeo,  angrily. 
"  To  think  that  thou  canst  skin  a  tiger !  Where 
did  the  buffaloes  kill  him  ?     It  is  the  Lame  Tiger, 


"TIGER!  TIGER!"  119 

too,  and  there  is  a  hundred  rupees  on  his  head. 
Well,  well,  we  will  overlook  thy  letting  the  herd 
run  off,  and  perhaps  I  will  give  thee  one  of  the 
rupees  of  the  reward  when  I  have  taken  the  skin 
to  Khanhiwara."  He  fumbled  in  his  waist-cloth 
for  flint  and  steel,  and  stooped  down  to  singe 
Shere  Khan's  whiskers.  Most  native  hunters 
singe  a  tiger's  whiskers  to  prevent  his  ghost 
haunting  them. 

"  Hum ! "  said  Mowgli,  half  to  himself  as  he 
ripped  back  the  skin  of  a  fore  paw.  "  So  thou 
wilt  take  the  hide  to  Khanhiwara  for  the  reward, 
and  perhaps  give  me  one  rupee?  Now  it  is  in 
my  mind  that  I  need  the  skin  for  my  own  use. 
Heh!  old  man,  take  away  that  fire!" 

"  What  talk  is  this  to  the  chief  hunter  of  the 
village  ?  Thy  luck  and  the  stupidity  of  thy  buf- 
faloes have  helped  thee  to  this  kill.  The  tiger 
has  just  fed,  or  he  would  have  gone  twenty  miles 
by  this  time.  Thou  canst  not  even  skin*  him 
properly,  little  beggar-brat,  and  forsooth  I, 
Buldeo,  must  be  told  not  to  singe  his  whiskers. 
Mowgli,  I  will  not  give  thee  one  anna  of  the 
reward,  but  only  a  very  big  beating.  Leave  the 
carcass ! " 

"  By  the  Bull  that  bought  me,"  said  Mowgli, 
who  was  trying  to  get  at  the  shoulder,  "  must  I 


120  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

stay  babbling  to  an  old  ape  all  noon?  Here, 
Akela,  this  man  plagues  me." 

Buldeo,  who  was  still  stooping  over  Shere 
Khan's  head,  found  himself  sprawling  on  the 
grass,  with  a  gray  wolf  standing  over  him,  while 
Mowgli  went  on  skinning  as  though  he  were 
alone  in  all  India. 

"  Ye-es,"  he  said,  between  his  teeth.  "Thou 
art  altogether  right,  Buldeo.  Thou  wilt  never 
give  me  one  anna  of  the  reward.  There  is  an 
old  war  between  this  lame  tiger  and  myself —  a 
very  old  war,  and— I  have  won." 

To  do  Buldeo  justice,  if  he  had  been  ten  years 
younger  he  would  have  taken  his  chance  with 
Akela  had  he  met  the  wolf  in  the  woods,  but  a 
wolf  who  obeyed  the  orders  of  this  boy  who  had 
private  wars  with  man-eating  tigers  was  not  a 
common  animal.  It  was  sorcery,  magic  of  the 
worst  kind,  thought  Buldeo,  and  he  wondered 
whether  the  amulet  round  his  neck  would  protect 
him.  He  lay  as  still  as  still,  expecting  every 
minute  to  see  Mowgli  turn   into  a  tiger,  too. 

"  Maharaj  !  Great  King,"  he  said  at  last,  in  a 
husky  whisper. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mowgli,  without  turning  his  head, 
chuckling  a  little. 


*' TIGER!  TIGER!"  123 

"  I  am  an  old  man.  I  did  not  know  that  thou 
wast  anything  more  than  a  herd-boy.  May  I 
rise  up  and  go  away,  or  will  thy  servant  tear  me 
to  pieces  ?  " 

"  Go,  and  peace  go  with  thee.  Only,  another 
time  do  not  meddle  with  my  game.  Let  him  go, 
Akela." 

Buldeo  hobbled  away  to  the  village  as  fast  as 
he  could,  looking  back  over  his  shoulder  in  case 
Mowgli  should  change  into  something  terrible. 
When  he  got  to  the  village  he  told  a  tale  of 
magic  and  enchantment  and  sorcery  that  made 
the  priest  look  very  grave. 

Mowgli  went  on  with  his  work,  but  it  was 
nearly  twilight  before  he  and  the  wolves  had 
drawn  the  great  gay  skin  clear  of  the  body. 

"  Now  we  must  hide  this  and  take  the  buffa- 
loes home !      Help  me  to  herd  them,   Akela." 

The  herd  rounded  up  in  the  misty  twilight, 
and  when  they  got  near  the  village  Mowgli  saw 
lights,  and  heard  the  conches  and  bells  in  the 
temple  blowing  and  banging.  Half  the  village 
seemed  to  be  waiting  for  him  by  the  gate.  "  That 
is- because  I  have  killed  Shere  Khan,"  he  said  to 
himself;  but  a  shower  of  stones  whistled  about 
his  ears,  and  the  villagers  shouted:    "Sorcerer! 


124  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

Wolf's  brat !  Jungle-demon  !  Go  away !  Get 
hence  quickly,  or  the  priest  will  turn  thee  into 
a  wolf  again.     Shoot,   Buldeo,   shoot !  " 

The  old  Tower  musket  went  off  with  a  bang, 
and  a  young  buffalo  bellowed  in  pain. 

"  More  sorcery  !  "  shouted  the  villagers.  "  He 
can  turn  bullets.      Buldeo,  that  was  thy  buffalo." 

"  Now  what  is  this  ?  "  said  Mowgli,  bewildered, 
as  the  stones  flew  thicker. 

''They  are  not  unlike  the  Pack,  these  brothers 
of  thine,"  said  Akela,  sitting  down  composedly. 
"  It  is  in  my  head  that,  if  bullets  mean  anything, 
they  would  cast  thee  out." 

"  Wolf!  Wolfs  cub  !  Go  away  !  "  shouted  the 
priest,  waving  a  sprig  of  the  sacred  tulsi  plant. 

"Again?  Last  time  it  was  because  I  was  a 
man.  This  time  it  is  because  I  am  a  wolf.  Let 
us  go,  Akela." 

A  woman  —  it  was  Messua  —  ran  across  to  the 
herd,  and  cried :  "  Oh,  my  son,  my  son  !  They 
say  thou  art  a  sorcerer  who  can  turn  himself  into 
a  beast  at  will.  I  do  not  believe,  but  go  away 
or  they  will  kill  thee.  Buldeo  says  thou  art  a 
wizard,  but  I  know  thou  hast  avenged  Nathoo's 
death." 

"  Come  back,  Messua ! "  shouted  the  crowd. 
"  Come  back,  or  we  will  stone  thee." 


"TIGER!    TIGER!"  125 

Mowgli  laughed  a  little  short  ugly  laugh,  for  a 
stone  had  hit  him  in  the  mouth.  "  Run  back, 
Messua.  This  is  one  of  the  foolish  tales  they  tell 
under  the  big  tree  at  dusk.  I  have  at  least  paid 
for  thy  son's  life.  Farewell ;  and  run  quickly, 
for  I  shall  send  the  herd  in  more  swiftly  than  their 
brickbats.     I  am  no  wizard,  Messua.    Farewell ! 

"  Now,  once  more,  Akela,"  he  cried.  "  Bring 
the  herd  in." 

The  buffaloes  were  anxious  enough  to  get  to 
the  village.  They  hardly  needed  Akela's  yell,  but 
charged  through  the  gate  like  a  whirlwind,  scat- 
tering the  crowd  right  and  left. 

"  Keep  count !  "  shouted  Mowgli,  scornfully. 
"  It  may  be  that  I  have  stolen  one  of  them. 
Keep  count,  for  I  will  do  your  herding  no  more. 
Fare  you  well,  children  of  men,  and  thank  Mes- 
sua that  I  do  not  come  in  with  my  wolves  and 
hunt  you  up  and  down  your  street." 

He  turned  on  his  heel  and  walked  away  with 
the  Lone  Wolf;  and  as  he  looked  up  at  the  stars 
he  felt  happy.  "  No  more  sleeping  in  traps  for 
me,  Akela.  Let  us  get  Shere  Khan's  skin  and 
go  away.  No ;  we  will  not  hurt  the  village,  for 
Messua  was  kind  to  me." 

When  the  moon  rose  over  the  plain,  making  it 
look  all  milky,  the  horrified  villagers  saw  Mowgli, 


126 


THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 


with  two  wolves  at  his  heels  and  a  bundle  on 
his  head,  trotting  across  at  the  steady  wolf's  trot 
that  eats  up  the  long  miles  like  fire.     Then  they 


"WHEN    THE    MOON    ROSE    OVER   THE    PLAIN   THE   VILLAGERS    SAW 
MOWGLI    TROTTING   ACROSS,    WITH    TWO    WOLVES   AT   HIS    HEELS." 


banged  the  temple  bells  and  blew  the  conches 
louder  than  ever ;  and  Messua  cried,  and  Buldeo 
embroidered  the  story  of  his  adventures  in  the 
jungle,  till  he  ended  by  saying  that  Akela  stood 
up  on  his  hind  legs  and  talked  like  a  man. 

The  moon  was  just  going  down  when  Mowgli 
and  the  two  wolves  came  to  the  hill  of  the  Council 
Rock,  and  they  stopped  at  Mother  Wolf's  cave. 

"  They  have  cast  me  out  from  the  Man  Pack, 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  127 

Mother,"  shouted  Mowgli,  "but  I  come  with  the 
hide  of  Shere  Khan  to  keep  my  word."  Mother 
Wolf  walked  stiffly  from  the  cave  with  the  cubs 
behind  her,  and  her  eyes  glowed  as  she  saw  the 
skin. 

"  I  told  him  on  that  day,  when  he  crammed  his 
head  and  shoulders  into  this  cave,  hunting  for  thy 
life,  Little  Frog  —  I  told  him  that  the  hunter 
would  be  the  hunted.      It  is  well  done." 

"  Little  Brother,  it  is  well  done,"  said  a  deep 
voice  in  the  thicket.  "  We  were  lonely  in  the 
jungle  without  thee,"  and  Bagheera  came  running 
to  Mowgli's  bare  feet.  They  clambered  up  the 
Council  Rock  together,  and  Mowgli  spread  the 
skin  out  on  the  flat  stone  where  Akela  used  to 
sit,  and  pegged  it  down  with  four  slivers  of  bam- 
boo, and  Akela  lay  down  upon  it,  and  called  the 
old  call  to  the  Council,  "Look— look  well,  O 
Wolves!"  exactly  as  he  had  called  when  Mowgli 
was  first  brought  there. 

Ever  since  Akela  had  been  deposed,  the  Pack 
had  been  without  a  leader,  hunting  and  fighting  at 
their  own  pleasure.  But  they  answered  the  call 
from  habit,  and  some  of  them  were  lame  from  the 
traps  they  had  fallen  into,  and  some  limped  from 
shot-wounds,  and  some  were  mangy  from  eat- 
ing bad  food,  and  many  were  missing ;  but  they 
came  to  the  Council  Rockf  ail  that  were  left  of 


128  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

them,  and  saw  Shere  Khan's  striped  hide  on  the 
rock,  and  the  huge  claws  dangling  at  the  end 
of  the  empty,  dangling  feet.  It  was  then  that 
Mowgli  made  up  a  song  without  any  rhymes,  a 
song  that  came  up  into  his  throat  all  by  itself, 
and  he  shouted  it  aloud,  leaping  up  and  down 
on  the  rattling  skin,  and  beating  time  with  his 
heels  till  he  had  no  more  breath  left,  while 
Gray  Brother  and  Akela  howled  between  the 
verses. 

"  Look  well,  O  Wolves.  Have  I  kept  my 
word?"  said  Mowgli  when  he  had  finished;  and 
the  wolves  bayed  "  Yes,"  and  one  tattered  wolf 
howled: 

"  Lead  us  again,  O  Akela.  Lead  us  again,  O 
Man-cub,  for  we  be  sick  of  this  lawlessness,  and 
we  would  be  the  Free  People  once  more." 

"Nay,"  purred  Bagheera,  "that  may  not  be. 
When  ye  are  full-fed,  the  madness  may  come 
upon  ye  again.  Not  for  nothing  are  ye  called 
the  Free  People.  Ye  fought  for  freedom,  and  it 
is  yours.      Eat  it,  O  Wolves." 

"  Man  Pack  and  Wolf  Pack  have  cast  me 
out,"  said  Mowgli.  "  Now  I  will  hunt  alone  in 
the  jungle." 

"  And  we  will  hunt  with  thee,"  said  the  four 
cubs. 


"THEY    CLAMBERED    UP    ON    THE    COUNCIL    ROCK   TOGETHER,    AND 
MOWGLI   SPREAD   THE   SKIN   OUT   ON   THE   FLAT   STONE." 


"TIGER!   TIGER!"  131 

So  Mowgli  went  away  and  hunted  with  the 
four  cubs  in  the  jungle  from  that  day  on.  But 
he  was  not  always  alone,  because  years  afterward 
he  became  a  man  and  married. 

But  that  is  a  story  for  grown-ups. 


MOWGLFS  SONG 

THAT  HE  SANG    AT    THE  COUNCIL   ROCK  WHEN    HE 
DANCED  ON   SHERE   KHAN'S  HIDE 

The  Song  of  Mowgli  —  I,  Mowgli,  am  singing.      Let 

the  jungle  listen  to  the  things  I  have  done. 
Shere  Khan  said  he  would  kill  — would  kill!     At  the 

gates  in  the  twilight  he  would  kill  Mowgli,   the 

Frog! 
He  ate  and  he  drank.     Drink  deep,  Shere  Khan,  for 

when  wilt  thou  drink  again  ?      Sleep  and  dream 

of  the  kill. 
i  am  alone  on  the  grazing- grounds.       Gray  Brother, 

come  to  me !     Come  to  me,  Lone  Wolf,  for  there 

is  big  game  afoot. 
Bring  up   the    great   bull-buffaloes,   the   blue-skinned 

herd-bulls  with  the  angry  eyes.     Drive  them  to 

and  fro  as  I  order. 
Sleepest   thou    still,    Shere    Khan  ?     Wake,    O  wake  f 

Here  come  I,  and  the  bulls  are  behind. 


132  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

t. 
Rama,  the   King   of  the   Buffaloes,  stamped  with  his 

foot.      Waters   of   the   Waingunga,  whither  went 

Shere  Khan  ? 

He  is  not  Ikki  to  dig  holes,  nor  Mao,  the  Peacock,  that 
he  should  fly.  He  is  not  Mang,  the  Bat,  to  hang 
in  the  branches.  Little  bamboos  that  creak  to- 
gether, tell  me  where  he  ran  ? 

Ow !  He  is  there.  AJwo !  He  is  there.  Under  the 
feet  of  Rama  lies  the  Lame  One  !  Up,  Shere 
Khan  !  Up  and  kill !  Here  is  meat ;  break  the 
necks  of  the  bulls ! 

Fish  J  He  is  asleep.  We  will  not  wake  him,  for  his 
strength  is  very  great.  The  kites  have  come  down 
to  see  it.  The  black  ants  have  come  up  to  know 
it.     There  is  a  great  assembly  in  his  honor. 

Alala!  I  have  no  cloth  to  wrap  me.  The  kites  will 
see  that  I  am  naked.  I  am  ashamed  to  meet  al] 
these  people. 

Lend  me  thy  coat,  Shere  Khan.  Lend  me  thy  gay 
striped  coat  that  I  may  go  to  the  Council  Rock. 

By  the  Bull  that  bought  me  I  have  made  a  promise  — 
a  little  promise.  Only  thy  coat  is  lacking  before  I 
keep  my  word. 

With  the  knife — -with  the  knife  that  men  use  —  with 
the  knife  of  the  hunter,  the  man,  I  will  stoop  down 
for  my  gift. 

Waters  of  the  Waingunga,  bear  witness  that  Shere 
Khan  gives  me  his  coat  for  the  love  that  he  bears 
me.  Pull,  Gray  Brother !  Pull,  Akela  1  Heavy  is 
the  hide  of  Shere  Khan. 


" TIGER t   TIGER!"  133 

The  Man  Pack  are  angry.     They  throw  stones  and  talk 

child's  talk.      My  mouth  is  bleeding.      Let  us  run 

away. 
Through  the  night,  through  the  hot  night,  run  swiftly 

with  me,  my  brothers.     We  will  leave  the  lights 

of  the  village  and  go  to  the  low  moon. 
Waters  of  the  Waingunga,  the  Man  Pack  have  cast  me 

out.     I  did  them  no  harm,  but  they  were  afraid  of 

me.     Why  ? 
Wolf  Pack,  ye  have  cast  me  out  too.      The  jungle  is 

shut  to  me  and  the  village  gates  are  shut.      Why  ? 
As  Mang  flies  between  the  beasts  and  the  birds  so  fly 

I  between  the  village  and  the  jungle.     Why  ? 
I  dance  on  the  hide  of  Shere  Khan,  but  my  heart  is 

very  heavy.     My  mouth  is  cut  and  wounded  with 

the  stones  from  the  village,  but  my  heart  is  very 

light   because    I   have  come   back  to   the  jungle. 

Why? 
These  two  things  fight  together  in  me  as  the  snakes 

fight  in  the  spring.     The  water  comes  out  of  my 

eyes  ;  yet  I  laugh  while  it  falls.     Why  ? 
I  am  two  Mowglis,  but  the  hide  of  Shere  Khan  is  under 

my  feet. 
All  the  jungle  knows  that  I  have  killed  Shere  Khan. 

Look  —  look  well,  O  Wolves  ! 
Ahae !    My  heart  is  heavy  with  the  things  that  I  do 

not  understand. 


THE  WHITE  SEAL 


Oh  !  hush  thee,  my  baby,  the  night  is  behind  us, 

And  black  are  the  waters  that  sparkled  so  green. 
The  moon,  o'er  the  combers,  looks  downward  to  find  us 

At  rest  in  the  hollows  that  rustle  between. 
Where  billow  meets  billow,  there  soft  be  thy  pillow; 

Ah,  weary  wee  flipperling,  curl  at  thy  ease ! 
The  storm  shall  not  wake  thee,  nor  shark  overtake  thee, 

Asleep  in  the  arms  of  the  slow-swinging  seas. 

Seal  Lullaby 


THE  WHITE   SEAL 


A  LL  these  things  happened  several  years  ago 
jLJL  at  a  place  called  Novastoshnah,  or  North 
East  Point,  on  the  Island  of  St.  Paul,  away  and 
away  in  the  Bering  Sea.  Limmershin,  the  Win- 
ter Wren,  told  me  the  tale  when  he  was  blown  on 
to  the  rigging  of  a  steamer  going  to  Japan,  and  I 
took  him  down  into  my  cabin  and  warmed  and  fed 
him  for  a  couple  of  days  till  he  was  fit  to  fly  back 
to  St.  Paul's  again.  Limmershin  is  a  very  odd 
little  bird,  but  he  knows  how  to  tell  the  truth. 
Nobody  comes  to  Novastoshnah  except  on 
business,  and  the  only  people  who  have  regular 


«37 


138  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

business  there  are  the  seals.  They  come  in  the 
summer  months  by  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  out  of  the  cold  gray  sea;  for  Novas- 
toshnah  Beach  has  the  finest  accommodation  for 
seals  of  any  place  in  all  the  world. 

Sea  Catch  knew  that,  and  every  spring  would 
swim  from  whatever  place  he  happened  to  be  in 
— would  swim  like  a  torpedo-boat  straight  for 
Novastoshnah,  and  spend  a  month  fighting  with 
his  companions  for  a  good  place  on  the  rocks  as 
close  to  the  sea  as  possible.  Sea  Catch  was  fif- 
teen years  old,  a  huge  gray  fur-seal  with  almost 
a  mane  on  his  shoulders,  and  long,  wicked  dog- 
teeth. When  he  heaved  himself  up  on  his  front 
flippers  he  stood  more  than  four  feet  clear  of  the 
ground,  and  his  weight,  if  any  one  had  been  bold 
enough  to  weigh  him,  was  nearly  seven  hundred 
pounds.  He  was  scarred  all  over  with  the  marks 
of  savage  fights,  but  he  was  always  ready  for  just 
one  fight  more.  He  would  put  his  head  on  one 
side,  as  though  he  were  afraid  to  look  his  enemy 
in  the  face;  then  he  would  shoot  it  out  like  light- 
ning, and  when  the  big  teeth  were  firmly  fixed  on 
the  other  seal's  neck,  the  other  seal  might  get  away 
if  he  could,  but  Sea  Catch  would  not  help  him. 

Yet  Sea  Catch  never  chased  a  beaten  seal,  for 
that  was  against  the  Rules  of  the  Beach.     He 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  139 

only  wanted  room  by  the  sea  for  his  nursery ; 
but  as  there  were  forty  or  fifty  thousand  other 
seals  hunting  for  the  same  thing  each  spring,  the 
whistling,  bellowing,  roaring,  and  blowing  on  the 
beach  was  something  frightful. 

From  a  little  hill  called  Hutchinson's  Hill  you 
could  look  over  three  and  a  half  miles  of  ground 
covered  with  fighting  seals ;  and  the  surf  was 
dotted  all  over  with  the  heads  of  seals  hurrying 
to  land  and  begin  their  share  of  the  fighting. 
They  fought  in  the  breakers,  they  fought  in  the 
sand,  and  they  fought  on  the  smooth-worn  basalt 
rocks  of  the  nurseries ;  for  they  were  just  as  stu- 
pid and  unaccommodating  as  men.  Their  wives 
never  came  to  the  island  until  late  in  May  or 
early  in  June,  for  they  did  not  care  to  be  torn  to 
pieces ;  and  the  young  two-,  three-,  and  four- 
year-old  seals  who  had  not  begun  housekeeping 
went  inland  about  half  a  mile  through  the  ranks 
of  the  fighters  and  played  about  on  the  sand-dunes 
in  droves  and  legions,  and  rubbed  off  every  single 
green  thing  that  grew.  They  were  called  the 
holluschickie,— the  bachelors, —  and  there  were 
perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  of  them 
at  Novastoshnah  alone. 

Sea  Catch  had  just  finished  his  forty-fifth  fight 
one  spring  when  Matkah,  his  soft,  sleek,  gentle- 


140  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

eyed  wife  came  up  out  of  the  sea,  and  he  caught 
her  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck  and  dumped  her 
down  on  his  reservation,  saying  gruffly :  "  Late, 
as  usual.      Where  have  you  been  ?  " 

It  was  not  the  fashion  for  Sea  Catch  to  eat 
anything  during  the  four  months  he  stayed  on 
the  beaches,  and  so  his  temper  was  generally 
bad.  Matkah  knew  better  than  to  answer  back. 
She  looked  around  and  cooed:  "  How  thoughtful 
of  you.     You  Ve  taken  the  old  place  again." 

"  I  should  think  I  had,"  said  Sea  Catch.  "  Look 
at  me ! " 

He  was  scratched  and  bleeding  in  twenty 
places ;  one  eye  was  almost  blind,  and  his  sides 
were  torn  to  ribbons. 

"  Oh,  you  men,  you  men  ! "  Matkah  said,  fan- 
ning herself  with  her  hind  flipper.  "  Why  can't 
you  be  sensible  and  settle  your  places  quietly  ? 
You  look  as  though  you  had  been  fighting  with 
the  Killer  Whale." 

"  I  have  n't  been  doing  anything  but  fight  since 
the  middle  of  May.  The  beach  is  disgracefully 
crowded  this  season.  I  've  met  at  least  a  hun- 
dred seals  from  Lukannon  Beach,  house-hunting. 
Why  can't  people  stay  where  they  belong  ?  " 

"  I  Ve  often  thought  we  should  be  much  hap- 
pier if  we  hauled  out  at  Otter  Island  instead  of 
this  crowded  place,"  said  Matkah. 


THE  WHITE   SEAL  141 

"  Bah !  Only  the  holluschickie  go  to  Otter 
Island.  If  we  went  there  they  would  say  we 
were  afraid.  We  must  preserve  appearances,  my 
dear." 

Sea  Catch  sunk  his  head  proudly  between  his 
fat  shoulders  and  pretended  to  go  to  sleep  for  a 
few  minutes,  but  all  the  time  he  was  keeping  a 
sharp  lookout  for  a  fight.  Now  that  all  the  seals 
and  their  wives  were  on  the  land  you  could  hear 
their  clamor  miles  out  to  sea  above  the  loudest 
gales.  At  the  lowest  counting  there  were  over  a 
million  seals  on  the  beach, —  old  seals,  mother 
seals,  tiny  babies,  and  holluschickie,  fighting,  scuf- 
fling, bleating,  crawling,  and  playing  together, — 
going  down  to  the  sea  and  coming  up  from  it  in 
gangs  and  regiments,  lying  over  every  foot  of 
ground  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  skir- 
mishing about  in  brigades  through  the  fog.  It  is 
nearly  always  foggy  at  Novastoshnah,  except 
when  the  sun  comes  out  and  makes  everything 
look  all  pearly  and  rainbow-colored  for  a  little 
while. 

Kotick,  Matkah's  baby,  was  born  in  the  mid- 
dle of  that  confusion,  and  he  was  all  head  and 
shoulders,  with  pale,  watery  blue  eyes,  as  tiny 
seals  must  be ;  but  there  was  something  about 
his  coat  that  made  his  mother  look  at  him  very 
closely. 


142  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"  Sea  Catch,"  she  said,  at  last,  "  our  baby  *s 
going-  to  be  white  !  " 

"Empty  clam-shells  and  dry  seaweed!"  snorted 
Sea  Catch.  "  There  never  has  been  such  a  thing 
in  the  world  as  a  white  seal." 

"  I  can't  help  that,"  said  Matkah  ;  "  there  's  go- 
ing to  be  now";  and  she  sang  the  low,  crooning 
seal-song  that  all  the  mother  seals  sing  to  their 
babies : 

You  must  n't  swim  till  you  're  six  weeks  old, 
Or  your  head  will  be  sunk  by  your  heels; 

And  summer  gales  and  Killer  Whales 
Are  bad  for  baby  seals. 

Are  bad  for  baby  seals,  dear  rat, 

As  bad  as  bad  can  be ; 
But  splash  and  grow  strong, 
And  you  can't  be  wrong, 

Child  of  the  Open  Seal 

Of  course  the  little  fellow  did  not  understand 
the  words  at  first.  He  paddled  and  scrambled 
about  by  his  mother's  side,  and  learned  to  scuffle 
out  of  the  way  when  his  father  was  fighting  with 
another  seal,  and  the  two  rolled  and  roared  up 
and  down  the  slippery  rocks.  Matkah  used  to 
go  to  sea  to  get  things  to  eat,  and  the  baby  was 
fed  only  once  in  two  days ;  but  then  he  ate  all  he 
could,  and  throve  upon  it. 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  143 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  crawl  inland,  and 
there  he  met  tens  of  thousands  of  babies  of  his 
own  age,  and  they  played  together  like  puppies, 
went  to  sleep  on  the  clean  sand,  and  played 
again.  The  old  people  in  the  nurseries  took 
no  notice  of  them,  and  the  holluschickie  kept  to 
their  own  grounds,  so  the  babies  had  a  beautiful 
playtime. 

When  Matkah  came  back  from  her  deep-sea 
fishing  she  would  go  straight  to  their  playground 
and  call  as  a  sheep  calls  for  a  lamb,  and  wait  un- 
til she  heard  Kotick  bleat.  Then  she  would  take 
the  straightest  of  straight  lines  in  his  direction, 
striking  out  with  her  fore  flippers  and  knocking 
the  youngsters  head  over  heels  right  and  left. 
There  were  always  a  few  hundred  mothers  hunt- 
ing for  their  children  through  the  playgrounds, 
and  the  babies  were  kept  lively  ;  but,  as  Matkah 
told  Kotick,  "  So  long  as  you  don't  lie  in  muddy 
water  and  get  mange ;  or  rub  the  hard  sand  into 
a  cut  or  scratch ;  and  so  long  as  you  never  go 
swimming  when  there  is  a  heavy  sea,  nothing 
will  hurt  you  here." 

Little  seals  can  no  more  swim  than  little  chil- 
dren, but  they  are  unhappy  till  they  learn.  The 
first  time  that  Kotick  went  down  to  the  sea  a 
wave  carried  him  out  beyond  his  depth,  and  his 


144  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

big  head  sank  and  his  little  hind  flippers  flew  up 
exactly  as  his  mother  had  told  him  in  the  song, 
and  if  the  next  wave  had  not  thrown  him  back 
again  he  would  have  drowned. 

After  that  he  learned  to  lie  in  a  beach-pool  and 
let  the  wash  of  the  waves  just  cover  him  and  lift 
him  up  while  he  paddled,  but  he  always  kept  his 
eye  open  for  big  waves  that  might  hurt.  He  was 
two  weeks  learning  to  use  his  flippers;  and  all 
that  while  he  floundered  in  and  out  of  the  water, 
and  couched  and  grunted  and  crawled  no  the 
beach  and  took  cat-naps  on  the  sand,  and  went 
back  again,  until  at  last  he  found  that  he  truly 
belonged  to  the  water. 

Then  you  can  imagine  the  times  that  he  had 
with  his  companions,  ducking  under  the  rollers ; 
or  coming  in  on  top  of  a  comber  and  landing  with 
a  swash  and  a  splutter  as  the  big  wave  went 
whirling  far  up  the  beach ;  or  standing  up  on  his 
tail  and  scratching  his  head  as  the  old  people  did  ; 
or  playing  "  I  'm  the  King  of  the  Castle "  on 
slippery,  weedy  rocks  that  just  stuck  out  of  the 
wash.  Now  and  then  he  would  see  a  thin  fin, 
like  a  big  shark's  fin,  drifting  along  close  to  shore, 
and  he  knew  that  that  was  the  Killer  Whale,  the 
Grampus,  who  eats  young  seals  when  he  can  get 
them ;  and  Kotick  would  head  for  the  beach  like  an 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  145 

arrow,  and  the  fin  would  jig  off  slowly,  as  if  it 
were  looking  for  nothing  at  all. 

Late  in  October  the  seals  began  to  leave  St. 
Paul's  for  the  deep  sea,  by  families  and  tribes,  and 
there  was  no  more  fighting  over  the  nurseries, 
and  the  holluschickie  played  anywhere  they  liked. 
"Next  year,"  said  Matkah  to  Kotick,  "you  will 
be  a  holluschickie ;  but  this  year  you  must  learn 
how  to  catch  fish." 

They  set  out  together  across  the  Pacific,  and 
Matkah  showed  Kotick  how  to  sleep  on  his  back 
with  his  flippers  tucked  down  by  his  side  and  his 
little  nose  just  out  of  the  water.  No  cradle  is 
so  comfortable  as  the  long,  rocking  swell  of  the 
Pacific.  When  Kotick  felt  his  skin  tingle  all 
over,  Matkah  told  him  he  was  learning  the  "  feel 
of  the  water,"  and  that  tingly,  prickly  feelings 
meant  bad  weather  coming,  and  he  must  swim 
hard  and  get  away. 

"  In  a  little  time,"  she  said,  "  you  '11  know 
where  to  swim  to,  but  just  now  we  '11  follow  Sea 
Pig,  the  Porpoise,  for  he  is  very  wise."  A  school 
of  porpoises  were  ducking  and  tearing  through 
the  water,  and  little  Kotick  followed  them  as  fast 
as  he  could.  "  How  do  you  know  where  to  go 
to?"  he  panted.  The  leader  of  the  school  rolled 
his  white    eyes,  and  ducked    under.      "  My  tail 


14$ 


THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 


■       < 


: 


TEN  FATHOMS  DEEP" 


tingles,  youngster,"  he 
said.  "That  means 
there  's  a  gale  behind 
me.  Come  along !  When 
you  're  south  of  the  Sticky 
Water  [he  meant  the 
Equator],  and  your  tail 
tingles,  that  means  there 
's  a  gale  in  front  of  you 
and  you  musthead  north. 
Come  along  !  The  water 
feels  bad  here." 

This  was  one  of  very 
many  things  that  Kotick 
learned,  and  he  was  al- 
ways learning.  Matkah 
taught  him  how  to  follow 
the  cod  and  the  halibut 
along  the  under-sea 
banks,  and  wrench  the 
rocklinsf  out  of  his  hole 
among  the  weeds  ;  how 
to  skirt  the  wrecks  lying 
a  hundred  fathoms  below 
water,  and  dart  like  a 
rifle-bullet  in  at  one  port- 
hole and  out  at  another 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  147 

as  the  fishes  ran ;  how  to  dance  on  the  top  of  the 
waves  when  the  lightning  was  racing  all  over 
the  sky,  and  wave  his  flipper  politely  to  the 
Stumpy-tailed  Albatross  and  the  Man-of-war 
Hawk  as  they  went  down  the  wind ;  how  to 
jump  three  or  four  feet  clear  of  the  water,  like  a 
dolphin,  flippers  close  to  the  side  and  tail  curved  ; 
to  leave  the  flying-fish  alone  because  they  are 
all  bony ;  to  take  the  shoulder-piece  out  of  a  cod 
at  full  speed  ten  fathoms  deep ;  and  never  to 
stop  and  look  at  a  boat  or  a  ship,  but  particu- 
larly a  row  boat.  At  the  end  of  six  months,  what 
Kotick  did  not  know  about  deep-sea  fishing  was 
not  worth  the  knowing,  and  all  that  time  he  never 
set  flipper  on  dry  ground. 

One  day,  however,  as  he  was  lying  half  asleep 
in  the  warm  water  somewhere  off  the  Islard  of 
Juan  Fernandez,  he  felt  faint  and  lazy  all  over, 
just  as  human  people  do  when  the  spring  is  in 
their  legs,  and  he  remembered  the  good  'firm 
beaches  of  Novastoshnah  seven  thousand  miles 
away ;  the  games  his  companions  played,  the 
smell  of  the  seaweed,  the  seal-roar,  and  the 
fighting.  That  very  minute  he  turned  north, 
swimming  steadily,  and  as  he  went  on  he  met 
scores  of  his  mates,  all  bound  for  the  same  place, 
and  they  said :  "  Greeting,   Kotick !     This  year 


148  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

we  are  all  holluschickie,  and  we  can  dance  the 
Fire-dance  in  the  breakers  off  Lukannon  and 
play  on  the  new  grass.  But  where  did  you  get 
that  coat  ?  " 

Kotick's  fur  was  almost  pure  white  now,  and 
though  he  felt  very  proud  of  it,  he  only  said : 
"  Swim  quickly !  My  bones  are  aching  for  the 
land."  And  so  they  all  came  to  the  beaches 
where  they  had  been  born  and  heard  the  old 
seals,  their  fathers,  fighting  in  the  roiling  mist. 

That  night  Kotick  danced  the  Fire-dance  with 
the  yearling  seals.  The  sea  is  full  of  fire  on 
summer  nights  all  the  way  down  from  Novastosh- 
nah  to  Lukannon,  and  each  seal  leaves  a  wake 
like  burning  oil  behind  him,  and  a  flaming  flash 
when  he  jumps,  and  the  waves  break  in  great 
phosphorescent  streaks  and  swirls.  Then  they 
went  inland  to  the  holluschickie  grounds,  and 
rolled  up  and  down  in  the  new  wild  wheat,  and 
told  stories  of  what  they  had  done  while  they  had 
been  at  sea.  They  talked  about  the  Pacific  as 
boys  would  talk  about  a  wood  that  they  had 
been  nutting  in,  and  if  any  one  had  understood 
them,  he  could  have  gone  away  and  made  such 
a  chart  of  that  ocean  as  never  was.  The  three- 
and  four-year-old  holluschickie  romped  down 
from  Hutchinson's  Hill,  crying:  "  Out  of  the  way, 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  149 

youngsters !  The  sea  is  deep,  and  you  don't 
know  all  that  's  in  it  yet.  Wait  till  you  Ve 
rounded  the  Horn.  Hi,  you  yearling,  where 
did   you   get  that  white  coat  ? " 

"I  did  n't  get  it,"  said  Kotick;  "it  grew." 
And  just  as  he  was  going  to  roll  the  speaker 
over,  a  couple  of  black-haired  men  with  flat  red 
faces  came  from  behind  a  sand-dune,  and  Kotick, 
who  had  never  seen  a  man  before,  coughed  and 
lowered  his  head.  The  holluschickie  just  bundled 
off  a  few  yards  and  sat  staring  stupidly.  The 
men  were  no  less  than  Kerick  Booterin,  the  chief 
of  the  seal-hunters  on  the  island,  and  Patalamon, 
his  son.  They  came  from  the  little  village  not 
half  a  mile  from  the  seal  nurseries,  and  they 
were  deciding  what  seals  they  would  drive  up  to 
the  killing-pens  (for  the  seals  were  driven  just  like 
sheep),  to  be  turned  into  sealskin  jackets  later  on. 

"  Ho  !  "  said  Patalamon.  "  Look  !  There  's  a 
white  seal ! " 

Kerick  Booterin  turned  nearly  white  under  his 
oil  and  smoke,  for  he  was  an  Aleut,  and  Aleuts 
are  not  clean  people.  Then  he  began  to  mutter 
a  prayer.  "  Don't  touch  him,  Patalamon.  There 
has  never  been  a  white  seal  since — •  since  I  was 
born.  Perhaps  it  is  old  Zaharrof's  ghost.  He 
was  lost  last  year  in  the  big  gale." 


150  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"  I  'm  not  going-  near  him,"  said  Patalamon. 
•  He  's  unlucky.  Do  you  really  think  he  is  old 
Zaharrof  come  back  ?  I  owe  him  for  some  gulls' 
eggs." 

"  Don't  look  at  him,"  said  Kerick.  "  Head  off 
that  drove  of  four-year-olds.  The  men  ought 
to  skin  two  hundred  to-day,  but  it  's  the  be- 
ginning of  the  season,  and  they  are  new  to  the 
work.     A  hundred  will  do.      Quick  !  " 

Patalamon  rattled  a  pair  of  seal's  shoulder- 
bones  in  front  of  a  herd  of  holluschickie  and  they 
stopped  dead,  puffing  and  blowing.  Then  he 
stepped  near,  and  the  seals  began  to  move,  and 
Kerick  headed  them  inland,  and  they  never  tried 
to  get  back  to  their  companions.  Hundreds  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  seals  watched  them 
being  driven,  but  they  went  on  playing  just  the 
same.  Kotick  was  the  only  one  who  asked  ques- 
tions, and  none  of  his  companions  could  tell  him 
anything, except  that  the  men  always  drove  seals  in 
that  way  for  six  weeks  or  two  months  of  every  year. 

"  I  am  going  to  follow,"  he  said,  and  his  eyes 
nearly  popped  out  of  his  head  as  he  shuffled  along 
in  the  wake  of  the  herd. 

"The  white  seal  is  coming  after  us,"  cried 
Patalamon.  "  That  's  the  first  time  a  seal  has 
ever  come  to  the  killing-grounds  alone." 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  151 

"  Hsh !  Don't  look  behind  you,"  said  Kerick. 
"  It  is  Zaharrof's  ghost !  I  must  speak  to  the 
priest  about  this." 

The  distance  to  the  killing-grounds  was  only 
half  a  mile,  but  it  took  an  hour  to  cover,  because 
if  the  seals  went  too  fast  Kerick  knew  that  they 
would  get  heated  and  then  their  fur  would  come 
off  in  patches  when  they  were  skinned.  So  they 
went  on  very  slowly,  past  Sea- Lion's  Neck,  past 
Webster  House,  till  they  came  to  the  Salt  House 
just  beyond  the  sight  of  the  seals  on  the  beach. 
Kotick  followed,  panting  and  wondering.  He 
thought  that  he  was  at  the  world's  end,  but  the 
roar  of  the  seal  nurseries  behind  him  sounded  as 
loud  as  the  roar  of  a  train  in  a  tunnel.  Then 
Kerick  sat  down  on  the  moss  and  pulled  out  a 
heavy  pewter  watch  and  let  the  drove  cool  off  for 
thirty  minutes,  and  Kotick  could  hear  the  fog- 
dew  dripping  from  the  brim  of  his  cap.  Then 
ten  or  twelve  men,  each  with  an  iron-bound  club 
three  or  four  feet  long,  came  up,  and  Kerick 
pointed  out  one  or  two  of  the  drove  that  were 
bitten  by  their  companions  or  were  too  hot,  and 
the  men  kicked  those  aside  with  their  heavy  boots 
made  of  the  skin  of  a  walrus's  throat,  and  then 
Kerick  said  :  "  Let  go  !  "  and  then  the  men  clubbed 
the  seals  on  the  head  as  fast  as  they  could. 


152  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

Ten  minutes  later  little  Kotick  did  not  recog- 
nize his  friends  any  more,  for  their  skins  were 
ripped  off  from  the  nose  to  the  hind  flippers  — 
whipped  off  and  thrown  down  on  the  ground  in 
a  pile. 

That  was  enough  for  Kotick.  He  turned  and 
galloped  (a  seal  can  gallop  very  swiftly  for  a 
short  time)  back  to  the  sea,  his  little  new  mus- 
tache bristling  with  horror.  At  Sea- Lion's  Neck, 
where  the  oreat  sea-lions  sit  on  the  eda-e  of  the 
surf,  he  flung  himself  flipper  over-head  into  the 
cool  water,  and  rocked  there,  gasping  miserably. 
"  What 's  here  ?  "  said  a  sea-lion,  gruffly  ;  for  as  a 
rule  the  sea-lions  keep  themselves  to  themselves. 

"Scoochnie !  Ochen  scoochnie J '"  ("I  'm  lone- 
some, very  lonesome  !  "),  said  Kotick.  "  They  're 
killing  all  the  holluschickie  on  all  the  beaches  !  " 

The  sea-lion  turned  his  head  inshore.  "  Non- 
sense," he  said;  "  your  friends  are  making  as  much 
noise  as  ever.  You  must  have  seen  old  Kerick 
polishing  off  a  drove.  He  's  done  that  for  thirty 
years." 

"  It 's  horrible,"  said  Kotick,  backing  water  as  a 
wave  went  over  him,  and  steadying  himself  with 
a  screw-stroke  of  his  flippers  that  brought  him 
up  all  standing  within  three  inches  of  a  jagged 
edge  of  rock. 


THE   WHITE   SEAL  153 

"  Well  done  for  a  yearling !  "  said  the  sea-lion, 
who  could  appreciate  good  swimming.  "  I  sup- 
pose it  is  rather  awful  from  your  way  of  looking 
at  it;  but  if  you  seals  will  come  here  year  after 
year,  of  course  the  men  get  to  know  of  it,  and 
unless  you  can  find  an  island  where  no  men  ever 
come,   you  will  always  be  driven." 

"  Is  n't  there  any  such  island?"  began  Kotick. 

"  I  've  followed  the  poltoos  [the  halibut]  for 
twenty  years,  and  I  can't  say  I  've  found  it  yet. 
But  look  here  —  you  seem  to  have  a  fondness  for 
talking  to  your  betters ;  suppose  you  go  to  Wal- 
rus Islet  and  talk  to  Sea  Vitch.  He  may  know 
something.  Don't  flounce  off  like  that.  It  's  a 
six-mile  swim,  and  if  I  were  you  I  should  haul 
out  and  take  a  nap  first,   little  one." 

Kotick  thought  that  that  was  good  advice,  so 
he  swam  round  to  his  own  beach,  hauled  out,  and 
slept  for  half  an  hour,  twitching  all  over,  as  seals 
will.  Then  he  headed  straight  for  Walrus  Islet, 
a  little  low  sheet  of  rocky  island  almost  due 
northeast  from  Novastoshnah,  all  ledges  of  rock 
and  gulls'  nests,  where  the  walrus  herded  by 
themselves. 

He  landed  close  to  old  Sea  Vitch  —  the  big, 
ugly,  bloated,  pimpled,  fat-necked,  long-tusked 
walrus  of  the  North  Pacific,  who  has  no  manners 


154 


THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 


except  when  he  is  asleep  —  as  he  was  then,  with 
his  hind  flippers  half  in  and  half  out  of  the  surf. 

"  Wake  up  !  "  -  barked  Kotick,  for  the  gulls 
were  making  a  great  noise. 

"  Hah  !  Ho  !  Hmph  !    What  s  that  ?  "  said  Sea 


■THEY    WERE    ALL    AWAKE    AND    STARING    IN    EVERY 
DIRECTION    BUT    THE    RIGHT    ONE." 

Vitch,  and  he  struck  the  next  walrus  a  blow  with 
his  tusks  and  waked  him  up,  and  the  next  struck 
the  next,  and  so  on  till  they  were  all  awake  and 
staring  in  every  direction  but  the  right  one. 

"  Hi !  It  's  me,"  said  Kotick,  bobbing  in  the 
surf  and  looking  like  a  little  white  slug. 

"Well!     May  I   be skinned!"  said  Sea 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  155 

Vitch,  and  they  all  looked  at  Kotick  as  you  can 
fancy  a  club  full  of  drowsy  old  gentlemen  would 
look  at  a  little  boy.  Kotick  did  not  care  to  hear 
any  more  about  skinning  just  then ;  he  had  seen 
enough  of  it ;  so  he  called  out :  "  Is  n't  there  any 
place  for  seals  to  go  where  men  don't  ever  come?  " 

"  Go  and  find  out,"  said  Sea  Vitch,   shutting 
his  eyes.     "  Run  away.     We  're  busy  here." 

Kotick  made  his  dolphin-jump  in  the  air  and 
shouted  as  loud  as  he  could :  "  Clam-eater ! 
Clam-eater ! "  He  knew  that  Sea  Vitch  never 
caught  a  fish  in  his  life,  but  always  rooted  for 
clams  and  seaweeds;  though  he  pretended  to 
be  a  very  terrible  person.  Naturally  the  Chick  - 
ies  and  the  Gooverooskies  and  the  Epatkas, 
the  Burgomaster  Gulls  and  the  Kittiwakes  and 
the  Puffins,  who  are  always  looking  for  a  chance 
to  be  rude,  took  up  the  cry,  and  —  so  Limmer 
shin  told  me  —  for  nearly  five  minutes  you  could 
not  have  heard  a  gun  fired  on  Walrus  Islet.  All 
the  population  was  yelling  and  screaming:  "  Clam- 
eater  !  Stareek  [old  man] ! "  while  Sea  Vitch 
rolled  from  side  to  side  grunting  and  coughing. 

"Now  will  you  tell?"  said  Kotick,  all  out  of 
breath. 

"  Go  and  ask  Sea  Cow,"  said  Sea  Vitch.      "  If 
he  is  living  still,  he  '11  be  able  to  tell  you." 


156  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

11  How  shall  I  know  Sea  Cow  when  I  meet 
him  ?  "  said  Kotick,  sheering  off. 

"  He  's  the  only  thing  in  the  sea  uglier  than 
Sea  Vitch,"  screamed  a  burgomaster  gull,  wheel- 
ing under  Sea  Vitch's  nose.  "  Uglier,  and  with 
worse  manners  !     Stareek  /  " 

Kotick  swam  back  to  Novastoshna,  leaving  the 
gulls  to  scream.  There  he  found  that  no  one 
sympathized  with  him  in  his  little  attempts  to 
discover  a  quiet  place  for  the  seals.  They  told 
him  that  men  had  always  driven  the  holluschickie 
—  it  was  part  of  the  day's  work—  and  that  if  he 
did  not  like  to  see  ugly  things  he  should  not 
have  gone  to  the  killing- grounds.  But  none  of 
the  other  seals  had  seen  the  killing,  and  that 
made  the  difference  between  him  and  his  friends. 
Besides,  Kotick  was  a  white  seal. 

"What  you  must  do,"  said  old  Sea  Catch,  after 
he  had  heard  his  son's  adventures,  "is  to  grow 
up  and  be  a  big  seal  like  your  father,  and  have  a 
nursery  on  the  beach,  and  then  they  will  leave 
you  alone.  In  another  five  years  you  ought 
to  be  able  to  fight  for  yourself."  Even  gentle 
Matkah,  his  mother,  said :  "  You  will  never  be 
able  to  stop  the  killing.  Go  and  play  in  the  sea, 
Kotick."  And  Kotick  went  off  and  danced  the 
Fire-dance  with  a  very  heavy  little  heart. 


THE  WHITE   SEAL  157 

That  autumn  he  left  the  beach  as  soon  as  he 
could,  and  set  off  alone  because  of  a  notion  in  his 
bullet-head.  He  was  going  to  find  Sea  Cow,  if 
there  was  such  a  person  in  the  sea,  and  he  was 
going  to  find  a  quiet  island  with  good  firm 
beaches  for  seals  to  live  on,  where  men  could 
not  get  at  them.  So  he  explored  and  explored 
by  himself  from  the  North  to  the  South  Pacific, 
swimming  as  much  as  three  hundred  miles  in  a 
day  and  a  night.  He  met  with  more  adventures 
than  can  be  told,  and  narrowly  escaped  being 
caught  by  the  Basking  Shark,  and  the  Spotted 
Shark,  and  the  Hammerhead,  and  he  met  all  the 
untrustworthy  ruffians  that  loaf  up  and  down  the 
high  seas,  and  the  heavy  polite  fish,  and  the 
scarlet-spotted  scallops  that  are  moored  in  one 
place  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  grow  very 
proud  of  it ;  but  he  never  met  Sea  Cow,  and  he 
never  found  an  island  that  he  could  fancy. 

If  the  beach  was  good  and  hard,  with  a  slope 
behind  it  for  seals  to  play  on.  there  was  always 
the  smoke  of  a  whaler  on  the  horizon,  boiling 
down  blubber,  and  Kotick  knew  what  that  meant. 
Or  else  he  could  see  that  seals  had  once  visited 
the  island  and  been  killed  off,  and  Kotick  knew 
that  where  men  had  come  once  they  would  come 
again, 


158  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

He  picked  up  with  an  old  stumpy-tailed  alba- 
tross, who  told  him  that  Kerguelen  Island  was 
the  very  place  for  peace  and  quiet,  and  when 
Kotick  went  down  there  he  was  all  but  smashed 
to  pieces  against  some  wicked  black  cliffs  in  a 
heavy  sleet-storm  with  lightning  and  thunder. 
Yet  as  he  pulled  out  against  the  gale  he  could 
see  that  even  there  had  once  been  a  seal  nursery. 
And  it  was  so  in  all  the  other  islands  that  he 
visited. 

Limmershin  gave  a  long  list  of  them,  for  he 
said  that  Kotick  spent  five  seasons  exploring, 
with  a  four  months'  rest  each  year  at  Novastosh- 
nah,  where  the  holluschickie  used  to  make  fun  of 
him  and  his  imaginary  islands.  He  went  to  the 
Gallapagos,  a  horrid  dry  place  on  the  Equator, 
where  he  was  nearly  baked  to  death ;  he  went 
to  the  Georgia  Islands,  the  Orkneys,  Emerald 
Island,  Little  Nightingale  Island,  Gough's  Island, 
Bouvet's  Island,  the  Crossets,  and  even  to  a  little 
speck  of  an  island  south  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  But  everywhere  the  People  of  the  Sea 
told  him  the  same  things.  Seals  had  come  to 
those  islands  once  upon  a  time,  but  men  had 
killed  them  all  off.  Even  when  he  swam  thou- 
sands of  miles  out  of  the  Pacific,  and  got  to  a 
place  called  Cape  Corientes  (that  was  when  he 


THE   WHITE   SEAL  159 

was  coming  back  from  Gough's  Island),  he  found 
a  few  hundred  mangy  seals  on  a  rock,  and  they 
told  him  that  men  came  there  too. 

That  nearly  broke  his  heart,  and  he  headed 
round  the  Horn  back  to  his  own  beaches;  and  on 
his  way  north  he  hauled  out  on  an  island  full  of 
green  trees,  where  he  found  an  old,  old  seal  who 
was  dying,  and  Kotick  caught  fish  for  him  and 
told  him  all  his  sorrows.  "  Now,"  said  Kotick,  "  I 
am  going  back  to  Novastoshnah,  and  if  I  am 
driven  to  the  killing-pens  with  the  holluschickie 
I  shall  not  care." 

The  old  seal  said :  "  Try  once  more.  I  am 
the  last  of  the  Lost  Rookery  of  Masafuera,  and 
in  the  days  when  men  killed  us  by  the  hundred 
thousand  there  was  a  story  on  the  beaches  that 
some  day  a  white  seal  would  come  out  of  the 
north  and  lead  the  seal  people  to  a  quiet  place. 
I  am  old  and  I  shall  never  live  to  see  that  day, 
but  others  will.     Try  once  more." 

And  Kotick  curled  up  his  mustache  (it  was  a 
beauty),  and  said  :  "  I  am  the  only  white  seal  that 
has  ever  been  born  on  the  beaches,  and  I  am  the 
only  seal,  black  or  white,  who  ever  thought  of 
looking  for  new  islands." 

That  cheered  him  immensely  ;  and  when  he 
came  back  to  Novastoshnah  that  summer,  Mat- 


160  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

kah,  his  mother,  begged  him  to  marry  and  settle 
down,  for  he  was  no  longer  a  holluschick,  but  a 
full-grown  sea-catch,  with  a  curly  white  mane  on 
his  shoulders,  as  heavy,  as  big,  and  as  fierce  as 
his  father.  "  Give  me  another  season,"  he  said. 
"  Remember,  Mother,  it  is  always  the  seventh 
wave  that  goes  farthest  up  the  beach." 

Curiously  enough,  there  was  another  seal  who 
thought  that  she  would  put  off  marrying  till 
the  next  year,  and  Kotick  danced  the  Fire-dance 
with  her  all  down  Lukannon  Beach  the  night  be- 
fore he  set  off  on  his  last  exploration. 

This  time  he  went  westward,  because  he  had 
fallen  on  the  trail  of  a  great  shoal  of  halibut,  and 
he  needed  at  least  one  hundred  pounds  of  fish  a 
day  to  keep  him  in  good  condition.  He  chased 
them  till  he  was  tired,  and  then  he  curled  himself 
up  and  went  to  sleep  on  the  hollows  of  the 
ground-swell  that  sets  in  to  Copper  Island.  He 
knew  the  coast  perfectly  well,  so  about  midnight, 
when  he  felt  himself  gently  bumped  on  a  weed 
bed,  he  said :  "  Hm,  tide  's  running  strong  to- 
night," and  turning  over  under  water  opened  his 
eyes  slowly  and  stretched.  Then  he  jumped  like 
a  cat,  for  he  saw  huge  things  nosing  about  in  the 
shoal  water  and  browsing  on  the  heavy  fringes 
of  the  weeds, 


THE    WHITE    SEAL  161 

"By  the  Great  Combers  of  Magellan!"  he  said, 
beneath  his  mustache.  "  Who  in  the  Deep  Sea 
are  these  people  ?  " 

They  were  like  no  walrus,  sea-lion,  seal,  bear, 
whale,  shark,  fish,  squid,  or  scallop  that  Kotick 
had  ever  seen  before.  They  were  between 
twenty  and  thirty  feet  long,  and  they  had  no 
hind  flippers,  but  a  shovel-like  tail  that  looked  as 
if  it  had  been  whittled  out  of  wet  leather.  Their 
heads  were  the  most  foolish-looking  things  you 
ever  saw,  and  they  balanced  on  the  ends  of  their 
tails  in  deep  water  when  they  were  n't  grazing, 
bowing  solemnly  to  one  another  and  waving  their 
front  flippers  as  a  fat  man  waves  his  arm. 

"Ahem  !  "  said  Kotick.  "  Good  sport,  gentle- 
men ?  "  The  big  things  answered  by  bowing  and 
waving  their  flippers  like  the  Frog-Footman. 
When  they  began  feeding  again  Kotick  saw  that 
their  upper  lip  was  split  into  two  pieces,  that 
they  could  twitch  apart  about  a  foot  and  bring 
together  again  with  a  whole  bushel  of  seaweed 
between  the  splits.  They  tucked  the  stuff  into 
their  mouths  and  chumped  solemnly. 

"Messy  style  of  feeding  that,"  said  Kotick. 
They  bowed  again,  and  Kotick  began  to  lose  his 
temper.  "  Very  good,"  he  said.  "  If  you  do  hap- 
pen to  have  an  extra  joint  in  your  front  flipper 


1 62 


THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 


you  need  n't  show  off  so.  I  see  you  bow  grace- 
fully, but  I  should  like  to  know  your  names." 
The  split  lips  moved  and  twitched,  and  the 
glassy  green  eyes  stared  ;  but  they  did  not  speak. 
"  Well !  "  said  Kotick,  "  you  're  the  only  people 


rfs^^^^si^a 


"HE    HAD    FOUND    SEA   COW   AT    LAST." 

I  've  ever  met  uglier  than  Sea  Vitch  —  and  with 
worse  manners." 

Then  he  remembered  in  a  flash  what  the  Bur- 
gomaster Gull  had  screamed  to  him  when  he  was 
a  little  yearling  at  Walrus  Islet,  and  he  tumbled 
backward  in  the  water,  for  he  knew  that  he  had 
found  Sea  Cow  at  last. 

The  sea  cows  went  on  schlooping  and  grazing, 
and  chumping  in    the  weed,  and   Kotick   asked 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  163 

them  questions  in  every  language  that  he  had 
picked  up  in  his  travels;  and  the  Sea  People  talk 
nearly  as  many  languages  as  human  beings. 
But  the  Sea  Cow  did  not  answer,  because  Sea 
Cow  cannot  talk.  He  has  only  six  bones  in  his 
neck  where  he  ought  to  have  seven,  and  they 
say  under  the  sea  that  that  prevents  him  from 
speaking  even  to  his  companions ;  but,  as  you 
know,  he  has  an  extra  joint  in  his  fore  flipper, 
and  by  waving  it  up  and  down  and  about  he 
makes  what  answers  to  a  sort  of  clumsy  telegraphic 
code. 

By  daylight  Kotick's  mane  was  standing  on 
end  and  his  temper  was  gone  where  the  dead 
crabs  go.  Then  the  Sea  Cow  began  to  travel 
northward  very  slowly,  stopping  to  hold  absurd 
bowing  councils  from  time  to  time,  and  Kotick 
followed  them,  saying  to  himself:  "People  who 
are  such  idiots  as  these  are  would  have  been 
killed  long  ago  if  they  had  n't  found  out  some 
safe  island ;  and  what  is  good  enough  for  the 
Sea  Cow  is  good  enough  for  the  Sea  Catch.  All 
the  same,  I  wish  they  'd  hurry." 

It  was  weary  work  for  Kotick.  The  herd 
never  went  more  than  forty  or  fifty  miles  a  day, 
and  stopped  to  feed  at  night,  and  kept  close  to 
the  shore  all  the  time ;  while  Kotick  swam  round 
them,  and   over  them,  and   under    them,  but   he 


164  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

>.. 

could  not  hurry  them  up  one  half-mile.  As  they 
went  farther  north  they  held  a  bowing  council 
every  few  hours,  and  Kotick  nearly  bit  off  his 
mustache  with  impatience  till  he  saw  that  they 
were  following  up  a  warm  current  of  water,  and 
then  he  respected  them  more. 

One  night  they  sank  through  the  shiny  water 
— sank  like  stones — and,  for  the  first  time  since 
he  had  known  them,  began  to  swim  quickly. 
Kotick  followed,  and  the  pace  astonished  him, 
for  he  never  dreamed  that  Sea  Cow  was  any- 
thing of  a  swimmer.  They  headed  for  a  cliff  by 
the  shore,  a  cliff  that  ran  down  into  deep  water,  and 
plunged  into  a  dark  hole  at  the  foot  of  it,  twenty 
fathoms  under  the  sea.  It  was  a  long,  long  swim, 
and  Kotick  badly  wanted  fresh  air  before  he  was 
out  of  the  dark  tunnel  they  led  him  through. 

"My  wig!"  he  said,  when  he  rose,  gasping 
and  puffing,  into  open  water  at  the  farther  end. 
"  It  was  a  long  dive,  but  it  was  worth  it." 

The  sea  cows  had  separated,  and  were  brows- 
ing lazily  along  the  edges  of  the  finest  beaches 
that  Kotick  had  ever  seen.  There  were  long 
stretches  of  smooth  worn  rock  running  for  miles, 
exactly  fitted  to  make  seal  nurseries,  and  there 
were  playgrounds  of  hard  sand,  sloping  inland 
behind  them,  and  there  were  rollers  for  seals  t(? 


THE  WHITE  SEAL  165 

dance  in,  and  long  grass  to  roll  in,  and  sand- 
dunes  to  climb  up  and  down,  and  best  of  all, 
Kotick  knew  by  the  feel  of  the  water,  which 
never  deceives  a  true  Sea  Catch,  that  no  men 
had  ever  come  there. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  assure  himself 
that  the  fishing  was  good,  and  then  he  swam 
along  the  beaches  and  counted  up  the  delightful 
low  sandy  islands  half  hidden  in  the  beautiful 
rolling  fog.  Away  to  the  northward  out  to  sea 
ran  a  line  of  bars  and  shoals  and  rocks  that  would 
never  let  a  ship  come  within  six  miles  of  the 
beach ;  and  between  the  islands  and  the  main- 
land was  a  stretch  of  deep  water  that  ran  up  to 
the  perpendicular  cliffs,  and  somewhere  below  the 
cliffs  was  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel. 

"It  's  Novastoshnah  over  again,  but  ten  times 
better,"  said  Kotick.  "  Sea  Cow  must  be  wiser 
than  I  thought.  Men  can't  come  down  the  cliffs, 
even  if  there  were  any  men ;  and  the  shoals  to 
seaward  would  knock  a  ship  to  splinters.  If  any 
place  in  the  sea  is  safe,  this  is  it." 

He  began  to  think  of  the  seal  he  had  left  be- 
hind him,  but  though  he  was  in  a  hurry  to  go 
back  to  Novastoshnah,  he  thoroughly  explored 
the  new  country,  so  that  he  would  be  able  to 
answer  all  questions. 


166  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

Then  he  dived  and  made  sure  of  the  mouth  of 
the  tunnel,  and  raced  through  to  the  southward. 
No  one  but  a  sea  cow  or  a  seal  would  have 
dreamed  of  there  being  such  a  place,  and  when 
he  looked  back  at  the  cliffs  even  Kotick  could 
hardly   believe   that  he   had   been   under    them. 

He  was  six  days  going  home,  though  he  was 
not  swimming  slowly ;  and  when  he  hauled  out 
just  above  Sea- Lion's  Neck  the  first  person  he 
met  was  the  seal  who  had  been  waiting  for  him, 
and  she  saw  by  the  look  in  his  eyes  that  he  had 
found  his  island  at  last. 

But  the  holluschickie  and  Sea  Catch,  his  father, 
and  all  the  other  seals,  laughed  at  him  when  he 
told  them  what  he  had  discovered,  and  a  young 
seal  about  his  own  age  said:  "This  is  all  very 
well,  Kotick,  but  you  can't  come  from  no  one 
knows  where  and  order  us  off  like  this.  Remem- 
ber we  've  been  fighting  for  our  nurseries,  and 
that  's  a  thing  you  never  did.  You  preferred 
prowling  about  in  the  sea." 

The  other  seals  laughed  at  this,  and  the  young 
seal  began  twisting-  his  head  from  side  to  side. 
He  had  just  married  that  year,  and  was  making 
a  great  fuss  about  it. 

"  I  've  no  nursery  to  fight  for,"  said  Kotick. 
"  I  want  only  to  show  you  all  a  place  where  you 
will  be  safe.     What 's  the  use  of  fighting?  " 


THE  WHITE   SEAL  167 

"  Oh,  if  you  're  trying  to  back  out,  of  course 
I  've  no  more  to  say,"  said  the  young  seal,  with 
an  ugly  chuckle. 

"  Will  you  come  with  me  if  I  win  ?  "  said  Ko- 
tick ;  and  a  green  light  came  into  his  eyes,  for  he 
was  very  angry  at  having  to  fight  at  all. 

"Very  good,"  said  the  young  seal,  carelessly. 
"If  you  win,  I  '11  come." 

He  had  no  time  to  change  his  mind,  for  Ko- 
tick's  head  darted  out  and  his  teeth  sunk  in  the 
blubber  of  the  young  seal's  neck.  Then  he  threw 
himself  back  on  his  haunches  and  hauled  his 
enemy  down  the  beach,  shook  him,  and  knocked 
him  over.  Then  Kotick  roared  to  the  seals: 
'T  've  done  my  best  for  you  these  five  seasons 
past.  I  've  found  you  the  island  where  you  '11  be 
safe,  but  unless  your  heads  are  dragged  oft  your 
silly  necks  you  won't  believe.  I  'm  going  to 
teach  you  now.      Look  out  for  yourselves  !  " 

Limmershin  told  me  that  never  in  his  life- — 
and  Limmershin  sees  ten  thousand  big  seals 
fighting  every  year  —  never  in  all  his  little  life 
did  he  see  anything  like  Kotick's  charge  into  the 
nurseries.  He  flung  himself  at  the  biggest  sea- 
catch  he  could  find,  caught  him  by  the  throat, 
choked  him  and  bumped  him  and  banged  him  till 
he  grunted  for  mercy,  and  then  threw  him  aside 
and   attacked   the   next.     You   see,   Kotick   had 


168  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

never  fasted  for  four  months  as  the  big  seals  did 
every  year,  and  his  deep-sea  swimming-trips  kept 
him  in  perfect  condition,  and,  best  of  all,  he  had 
never  fought  before.  His  curly  white  mane  stood 
up  with  rage,  and  his  eyes  flamed,  and  his  big  dog- 
teeth glistened,  and  he  was  splendid  to  look  at. 

Old  Sea  Catch,  his  father,  saw  him  tearing 
past,  hauling  the  grizzled  old  seals  about  as 
though  they  had  been  halibut,  and  upsetting  the 
young  bachelors  in  all  directions ;  and  Sea  Catch 
gave  one  roar  and  shouted:  "  He  may  be  a  fool, 
but  he  is  the  best  fighter  on  the  Beaches.  Don't 
tackle  your  father,  my  son  !     He  's  with  you!" 

Kotick  roared  in  answer,  and  old  Sea  Catch 
waddled  in,  his  mustache  on  end,  blowing  like  a 
locomotive,  while  Matkah  and  the  seal  that  was 
going  to  marry  Kotick  cowered  down  and  ad- 
mired their  men-folk.  It  was  a  gorgeous  fight, 
for  the  two  fought  as  long  as  there  was  a  seal 
that  dared  lift  up  his  head,  and  then  they  paraded 
grandly  up  and  down  the  beach  side  by  side, 
bellowing. 

At  night,  just  as  the  Northern  Lights  were 
winking  and  flashing  through  the  fog,  Kotick 
climbed  a  bare  rock  and  looked  down  on  the  scat- 
tered nurseries  and  the  torn  and  bleeding  seals. 
"  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  've  taught  you  your  lesson." 


THE  WHITE   SEAL  169 

"  My  wig  !  "  said  old  Sea  Catch,  boosting  him- 
self up  stiffly,  for  he  was  fearfully  mauled.  "  The 
Killer  Whale  himself  could  not  have  cut  them 
up  worse.  Son,  I  'm  proud  of  you,  and  what  's 
more,  /  7/ come  with  you  to  your  island — if  there 
is  such  a  place." 

"  Hear  you,  fat  pigs  of  the  sea!  Who  comes 
with  me  to  the  Sea  Cow's  tunnel  ?  Answer,  or  I 
shall  teach  you  again,"  roared  Kotick. 

There  was  a  murmur  like  the  ripple  of  the  tide 
all  up  and  down  the  beaches.  "We  will  come," 
said  thousands  of  tired  voices.  "We  will  follow 
Kotick,  the  White  Seal." 

Then  Kotick  dropped  his  head  between  his 
shoulders  and  shut  his  eyes  proudly.  He  was 
not  a  white  seal  any  more,  but  red  from  head  to 
tail.  All  the  same  he  would  have  scorned  to  look 
at  or  touch  one  of  his  wounds. 

A  week  later  he  and  his  army  (nearly  ten 
thousand  holluschickie  and  old  seals)  went  away 
north  to  the  Sea  Cow's  tunnel,  Kotick  leading 
them,  and  the  seals  that  stayed  at  Novastoshnah 
called  them  idiots.  But  next  spring  when  they 
all  met  off  the  fishing-banks  of  the  Pacific,  Ko- 
tick's  seals  told  such  tales  of  the  new  beaches 
beyond  Sea  Cow's  tunnel  that  more  and  more 
seals  left  Novastoshnah. 


170  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

Of  course  it  was  not  all  done  at  once,  for  the 
seals  need  a  long  time  to  turn  things  over  in 
their  minds,  but  year  by  year  more  seals  went 
away  from  Novastoshnah,  and  Lukannon,  and 
the  other  nurseries,  to  the  quiet,  sheltered  beaches 
where  Kotick  sits  all  the  summer  through,  getting 
bigger  and  fatter  and  stronger  each  year,  while 
the  holluschickie  play  round  him,  in  that  sea 
where  no  man  comes. 

LUKANNON 

This  is  the  great  deep-sea  song  that  all  the  St.  Paul 
seals  sing  when  they  are  heading  back  to  their  beaches 
in  the  summer.  It  is  a  sort  of  very  sad  seal  National 
Anthem. 

I  met  my  mates  in  the  morning  (and  oh,  but  I  am  old !) 
Where  roaring  on  the  ledges  the  summer  ground-swell 

rolled ; 
I  heard  them  lift  the  chorus  that  dropped  the  breakers' 

song  — 
The  beaches  of  Lukannon  ■ —  two  million  voices  strong  ! 

The  song  of  pleasant  stations  beside  the  salt  lagoons, 

The  song  of  blowing  squadrons  that  shuffled  down  the 

dunes, 
The  song  of  midnight  dances  that  churned  the  sea  to 

flame  — 

The   beaches   of  Lukannon  - —  before  the  sealers  came  I 


THE   WHITE   SEAL  171 

I  met  my  mates  in  the  morning  (I  '11  never  meet  them 

more!) ; 
They  came  and  went  in  legions  that  darkened  all  the 

shore. 
And  through  the  floam-flecked  offing  as  far  as  voice 

could  reach 
We  hailed  the  landing-parties  and  we  sang   them  up 

the  beach. 

The  beaches  of  Lukannon  —  the  winter-wheat  so  tall— 

The  dripping,  crinkled  lichens,  and  the  sea- fog  drench- 
ing all  I 

The  platforms  of  our  playground,  all  shining  smooth 
and  worn  I 

The  beaches  of  Lukanno?t  —  the  home  zuhere  we  were 
born  ! 

I  meet  my  mates  in  the  morning,  a  broken,  scattered 

band. 
Men  shoot  us  in  the  water  and  club  us  on  the  land ; 
Men  drive  us  to  the  Salt  House  like  silly  sheep  and 

tame, 
And  still  we  sing  Lukannon  —  before  the  sealers  came. 

Wheel  down,    zvheel    down    to    southward ;    oh,    Goo- 

verooska  go  ! 
And  tell  the  Deep- Sea   Viceroys  the  story  of  our  woe  ; 
Ere,  empty  as  the  shark's  egg  the  tempest  flings  ashore, 
The  beaches  of  Lukannon  shall  know   their  sons  no 

more  ! 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI 


At  the  hole  where  he  went  in 
Red-Eye  called  to  Wrinkle-Skin. 
Hear  what  little  Red-Eye  saith : 
"Nag,  come  up  and  dance  with  death 

Eye  to  eye  and  head  to  head, 
{Keep  the  measure,  Nag.) 

This  shall  end  when  one  is  dead; 
{At  thy  pleasure,  Nag.) 

Turn  for  turn  and  twist  for  twist  — 
{Run  and  hide  thee,  Nag.) 
!     The  hooded  Death  has  missed  I 
( Woe  betide  thee,  Nag  !) 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI" 


THIS  is  the  story  of  the  great  war  that  Rikki- 
tikki-tavi  fought  single-handed,  through  the 
bath-rooms  of  the  big  bungalow  in  Segowlee 
cantonment.  Darzee,  the  tailor-bird,  helped  him, 
and  Chuchundra,  the  muskrat,  who  never  comes 
out  into  the  middle  of  the  floor,  but  always  creeps 
round  by  the  wall,  gave  him  advice ;  but  Rikki- 
tikki  did  the  real  fighting. 

He  was  a  mongoose,  rather  like  a  little  cat  in 
his  fur  and  his  tail,  but  quite  like  a  weasel  in  his 
head  and  his  habits.  His  eyes  and  the  end  of 
his  restless  nose  were  pink ;  he  could  scratch 
himself  anywhere  he  pleased,  with  any  leg,  front 
or  back,  that  he  chose  to  use ;  he  could  fluff  up 
his  tail  till  it  looked  like  a  bottle-brush,  and  his 


176  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

war-cry  as  he  scuttled  through  the  long  grass, 
was  :   "  Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk  /  " 

One  day,  a  high  summer  flood  washed  him  out 
of  the  burrow  where  he  lived  with  his  father  and 
mother,  and  carried  him,  kicking  and  clucking, 
down  a  roadside  ditch.  He  found  a  little  wisp 
of  grass  floating  there,  and  clung  to  it  till  he 
lost  his  senses.  When  he  revived,  he  was  lying 
in  the  hot  sun  on  the  middle  of  a  garden  path, 
very  draggled  indeed,  and  a  small  boy  was  say- 
ing: :  "  Here  's  a  dead  mongoose.  Let  's  have  a 
funeral." 

"  No,"  said  his  mother ;  "  let 's  take  him  in  and 
dry  him.      Perhaps  he  is  n't  really  dead." 

They  took  him  into  the  house,  and  a  big  man 
picked  him  up  between  his  finger  and  thumb  and 
said  he  was  not  dead  but  half  choked ;  so  they 
wrapped  him  in  cotton-wool,  and  warmed  him, 
and  he  opened  his  eyes  and  sneezed. 

"  Now,"  said  the  big  man  (he  was  an  English- 
man who  had  just  moved  into  the  bungalow)  ; 
"  don't  frighten  him,  and  we  '11  see  what  he  '11  do." 

It  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  frighten 
a  mongoose,  because  he  is  eaten  up  from  nose  to 
tail  with  curiosity.  The  motto  of  all  the  mon- 
goose family  is,  "  Run  and  find  out"  ;  and  Rikki- 
tikki  was  a  true  mongoose.     He  looked  at  the 


RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI 


177 


cotton-wool,  decided  that  it  was  not  good  to  eat, 

ran  all  round  the  table,  sat  up  and  put  his  fur 

in    order,    scratched 

himself,  and  jumped 

on   the    small    boy's 

shoulder. 

"  Don't  be  fright- 
ened, Teddy,"  said 
his  father.  "  That  's 
his  way  of  making 
friends." 

"Ouch!  He  's 
tickling  under  my 
chin,"  said  Teddy. 

Rikki-tikki  looked 
down  between  the 
boy's  collar  and  neck, 

J  e  "  RIKKI-TIKKI  LOOKED   DOWN  BETWEEN 

snuffed    at   his    ear,        the  boy's  collar  and  neck." 
and  climbed  down    to    the   floor,  where    he   sat 
rubbing   his  nose. 

"  Good  gracious,"  said  Teddy's  mother,  "  and 
that 's  a  wild  creature !  I  suppose  he  's  so  tame 
because  we  've  been  kind  to  him." 

"All  mongooses  are  like  that,"  said  her  husband. 
"  If  Teddy  does  n't  pick  him  up  by  the  tail,  or  try  to 
put  him  in  a  cage,  he  '11  run  in  and  out  of  the  house 
all  day  long.      Let 's  give  him  something  to  eat." 


178 


THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 


They  gave  him  a  little  piece  of  raw  meat. 
Rikki-tikki  liked  it  immensely,  and  when  it  was 
finished  he  went  out  into  the  veranda  and  sat  in 
the  sunshine  and  fluffed  up  his  fur  to  make  it  dry 
to  the  roots.     Then  he  felt  better. 

"  There  are  more  things  to  find  out  about  in 
this  house,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  than  all  my  family 


"HE    PUT    HIS    NOSE    INTO    THE    INK." 

could  find  out  in  all  their  lives.      I  shall  certainly 
stay  and  find  out." 

He  spent  all  that  day  roaming  over  the  house. 
He  nearly  drowned  himself  in  the  bath-tubs, 
put  his  nose  into  the  ink  on  a  writing-table,  and 
burned  it  on  the  end  of  the  big  man's  cigar,  for 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI 


179 


he  climbed  up  in  the  big  man's  lap  to  see  how 
writing  was  done.  At  nightfall  he  ran  into 
Teddy's  nursery  to  watch  how  kerosene  lamps 
were  lighted,  and  when  Teddy  went  to  bed 
Rikki-tikki  climbed  up  too ;  but  he  was  a  rest- 
less companion,  because  he  had  to  get  up  and 
attend  to  every  noise  all  through  the  night,  and 
find    out   what    made    it.      Teddy's    mother    and 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI     WAS     AWAKE    ON    THE    PILLOW. " 


father  came  in,  the  last  thing,  to  look  at  their 
boy,  and  Rikki-tikki  was  awake  on  the  pillow. 
"I  don't  like  that,"  said  Teddy's  mother;  "he 
may  bite  the  child."  "  He  '11  do  no  such  thing," 
said  the  father.  "Teddy  's  safer  with  that  little 
beast  than  if  he  had  a  bloodhound  to  watch  him. 
If  a  snake  came  into  the  nursery  now — " 


i8o 


THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 


But  Teddy's  mother  would  n't  think  of  any- 
thing- so  awful. 

Early  in  the  morning  Rikki-tikki  came  to 
early  breakfast  in  the  veranda  riding  on  Teddy's 
shoulder,  and   they  gave   him   banana  and  some 

boiled  egg  ;  and  he  sat 
on  all  their  laps  one 
after  the  other,  because 
every  well-brought-up 
mongoose  always  hopes 
to  be  a  house-mongfoose 
some  day  and  have 
rooms  to  run  about  in, 
andRikki-tikki'smother 
(she  used  to  live  in  the 
General's  house  at  Se- 
gowlee)  had  carefully 
told  Rikki  what  to  do 
if  ever  he  came  across 
white  men. 

Then  Rikki-tikki  went 
out  into  the  garden  to 
see  what  was  to  be  seen.  It  was  a  large  garden, 
only  half  cultivated,  with  bushes  as  big  as  sum- 
mer-houses of  Marshal  Niel  roses,  lime  and 
orange  trees,  clumps  of  bamboos,  and  thickets  of 
high  grass.     Rikki-tikki  licked  his  lips.      :'Thi 


"HE    CAME    TO     BREAKFAST 
RIDING    ON    TEDDY'S    SHOULDER. 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI" 


181 


is  a  splendid  hunting-ground,"  he  said,  and  his 
tail  grew  bottle-brushy  at  the  thought  of  it,  and 
he  scuttled  up  and  down  the  garden,  snuffing 
here  and  there  till  he  heard  very  sorrowful  voices 
in  a  thorn-bush. 


"'WE    ARE    VERY    MISERABLE,'    SAID    DARZEE." 


It  was  Darzee,  the  tailor-bird,  and  his  wife. 
They  had  made  a  beautiful  nest  by  pulling  two 
big  leaves  together  and  stitching  them  up  the 
edges  with  fibers,  and  had  filled  the  hollow  with 


182  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

p. 

cotton  and  downy  fluff.  The  nest  swayed  to  and 
fro,  as  they  sat  on  the  rim  and  cried. 

"  What  is  the  matter?  "  asked  Rikki-tikki. 

"We  are  very  miserable,"  said  Darzee.  "  One 
of  our  babies  fell  out  of  the  nest  yesterday  and 
Nag  ate  him." 

"H'm!"  said  Rikki-tikki,  "that  is  very  sad — 
but  I  am  a  stranger  here.     Who  is  Nag?  " 

Darzee  and  his  wife  only  cowered  down  in  the 
nest  without  answering,  for  from  the  thick  grass 
at  the  foot  of  the  bush  there  came  a  low  hiss  —  a 
horrid  cold  sound  that  made  Rikki-tikki  jump 
back  two  clear  feet.  Then  inch  by  inch  out  of 
the  grass  rose  up  the  head  and  spread  hood  of 
Nag,  the  big  black  cobra,  and  he  was  five  feet 
long-  from  tonprie  to  tail.  When  he  had  lifted 
one-third  of  himself  clear  of  the  ground,  he  stayed 
balancing  to  and  fro  exactly  as  a  dandelion-tuft 
balances  in  the  wind,  and  he  looked  at  Rikki- 
tikki  with  the  wicked  snake's  eyes  that  never 
change  their  expression,  whatever  the  snake  may 
be  thinking  of. 

"Who  is  Nag?"  he  said,  "/am  Nag.  The 
great  god  Brahm  put  his  mark  upon  all  our 
people  when  the  first  cobra  spread  his  hood  to 
keep  the  sun  off  Brahm  as  he  slept.  Look,  and 
be  afraid  ! " 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVP*  185 

He  spread  out  his  hood  more  than  ever,  and 
Rikki-tikki  saw  the  spectacle-mark  on  the  back 
of  it  that  looks  exactly  like  the  eye  part  of  a 
hook-and-eye  fastening.  He  was  afraid  for  the 
minute ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  a  mongoose  to 
stay  frightened  for  any  length  of  time,  and  though 
Rikki-tikki  had  never  met  a  live  cobra  before,  his 
mother  had  fed  him  on  dead  ones,  and  he  knew 
that  all  a  erown  mongoose's  business  in  life  was 
to  fight  and  eat  snakes.  Nag  knew  that  too,  and 
at  the  bottom  of  his  cold  heart  he  was  afraid. 

"Well,"  said  Rikki-tikki,  and  his  tail  began 
to  fluff  up  again,  "  marks  or  no  marks,  do  you 
think  it  is  right  for  you  to  eat  fledglings  out 
of  a  nest  ?  " 

Nag  was  thinking  to  himself,  and  watching  the 
least  little  movement  in  the  grass  behind  Rikki- 
tikki.  He  knew  that  mongooses  in  the  garden 
meant  death  sooner  or  later  for  him  and  his 
family ;  but  he  wanted  to  get  Rikki-tikki  off  his 
guard.  So  he  dropped  his  head  a  little,  and  put 
it  on  one  side. 

"  Let  us  talk,"  he  said.  "  You  eat  eggs.  Why 
should  not  I  eat  birds  ?  " 

"  Behind  you  !  Look  behind  you ! "  sang 
Darzee. 

Rikki-tikki  knew  better  than  to  waste  time  in 


i86  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

staring.  He  jumped  up  in  the  air  as  high  as  he 
could  go,  and  just  under  him  whizzed  by  the  head 
of  Nagaina,  Nag's  wicked  wife.  She  had  crept 
up  behind  him  as  he  was  talking,  to  make  an 
end  of  him  ;  and  he  heard  her  savage  hiss  as  the 
stroke  missed.  He  came  down  almost  across  her 
back,  and  if  he  had  been  an  old  mongoose  he 
would  have  known  that  then  was  the  time  to 
break  her  back  with  one  bite  ;  but  he  was  afraid 
of  the  terrible  lashine  return-stroke  of  the  cobra. 
He  bit,  indeed,  but  did  not  bite  long  enough,  and 
he  jumped  clear  of  the  whisking  tail,  leaving 
Nagaina  torn  and  angry. 

"Wicked,  wicked  Darzee  !  "  said  Nag,  lashing 
up  as  high  as  he  could  reach  toward  the  nest  in 
the  thorn-bush ;  but  Darzee  had  built  it  out  of 
reach  of  snakes,  and  it  only  swayed  to  and  fro. 

Rikki-tikki  felt  his  eyes  growing  red  and  hot 
(when  a  mongoose's  eyes  grow  red,  he  is  angry), 
and  he  sat  back  on  his  tail  and  hind  lees  like  a 
little  kangaroo,  and  looked  all  around  him,  and 
chattered  with  rage.  But  Nag  and  Nagaina 
had  disappeared  into  the  grass.  When  a  snake 
misses  its  stroke,  it  never  says  anything  or  gives 
any  sign  of  what  it  means  to  do  next.  Rikki- 
tikki  did  not  care  to  follow  them,  for  he  did  not 
feel  sure  that  he   could   manage  two  snakes  at 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI  "  189 

once.  So  he  trotted  off  to  the  gravel  path  near 
the  house,  and  sat  down  to  think.  It  was  a  seri- 
ous matter  for  him. 

If  you  read  the  old  books  of  natural  history, 
you  will  find  they  say  that  when  the  mongoose 
fights  the  snake  and  happens  to  get  bitten,  he 
runs  off  and  eats  some  herb  that  cures  him.  That 
is  not  true.  The  victory  is  only  a  matter  of  quick- 
ness of  eye  and  quickness  of  foot, — -snake's  blow 
against  mongoose's  jump, — and  as  no  eye  can 
follow  the  motion  of  a  snake's  head  when  it 
strikes,  that  makes  things  much  more  wonder- 
ful than  any  magic  herb.  Rikki-tikki  knew 
he  was  a  young  mongoose,  and  it  made  him  all 
the  more  pleased  to  think  that  he  had  managed 
to  escape  a  blow  from  behind.  It  gave  him 
confidence  in  himself,  and  when  Teddy  came 
running  down  the  path,  Rikki-tikki  was  ready 
to  be  petted. 

But  just  as  Teddy  was  stooping,  something 
flinched  a  little  in  the  dust,  and  a  tiny  voice  said : 
"  Be  careful.  I  am  death  !  "  It  was  Karait,  the 
dusty  brown  snakeling  that  lies  for  choice  on  the 
dusty  earth  ;  and  his  bite  is  as  dangerous  as  the 
cobra's.  But  he  is  so  small  that  nobody  thinks 
of  him,  and  so  he  does  the  more  harm  to  people. 

Rikki-tikki's    eyes    grew    red    again,    and    he 


igo  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

danced  up  to  Karait  with  the  peculiar  rocking, 
swaying  motion  that  he  had  inherited  from  his 
family.  It  looks  very  funny,  but  it  is  so  perfectly 
balanced  a  gait  that  you  can  fly  off  from  it  at  any 
angle  you  please ;  and  in  dealing  with  snakes 
this  is  an  advantage.  If  Rikki-tikki  had  only 
known,  he  was  doing  a  much  more  dangerous 
thing  than  fighting  Nag,  for  Karait  is  so  small, 
and  can  tarn  so  quickly,  that  unless  Rikki  bit 
him  close  to  the  back  of  the  head,  he  would  get 
the  return-stroke  in  his  eye  or  lip.  But  Rikki 
did  not  know  :  his  e3/es  were  all  red,  and  he 
rocked  back  and  forth,  looking  for  a  good  place 
to  hold,  Karait  struck  out.  Rikki  jumped  side- 
ways and  tried  to  run  in,  but  the  wicked  little 
dusty  gray  head  lashed  within  a  fraction  of  his 
shoulder,  and  he  had  to  jump  over  the  body,  and 
the  head  followed  his  heels  close. 

Teddy  shouted  to  the  house :  "  Oh,  look 
here  !  Our  mongoose  is  killing  a  snake  "  ;  and 
Rikki-tikki  heard  a  scream  from  Teddy's  mother. 
His  father  ran  out  with  a  stick,  but  by  the  time 
he  came  up,  Karait  had  lunged  out  once  too  far, 
and  Rikki-tikki  had  sprung,  jumped  on  the 
snake's  back,  dropped  his  head  far  between  his 
fore  legs,  bitten  as  high  up  the  back  as  he  could 


'•RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI  191 

get  hold,  and  rolled  away.  That  bite  paralyzed 
Karait,  and  Rikki-tikki  was  just  going  to  eat  him 
up  from  the  tail,  after  the  custom  of  his  family  at 
dinner,  when  he  remembered  that  a  full  meal 
makes  a  slow  mongoose,  and  if  he  wanted  all 
his  strength  and  quickness  ready,  he  must  keep 
himself  thin. 

He  went  away  for  a  dust-bath  under  the 
castor-oil  bushes,  while  Teddy's  father  beat  the 
dead  Karait.  "What  is  the  use  of  that?" 
thought  Rikki-tikki.  "  I  have  settled  it  all"  ;  and 
then  Teddy's  mother  picked  him  up  from  the 
dust  and  hugged  him,  crying  that  he  had  saved 
Teddy  from  death,  and  Teddy's  father  said  that 
he  was  a  providence,  and  Teddy  looked  on  with 
big  scared  eyes.  Rikki-Tikki  was  rather  amused 
at  all  the  fuss,  which,  of  course,  he  did  not  under- 
stand. Teddy's  mother  might  just  as  well  have 
petted  Teddy  for  playing  in  the  dust.  Rikki  was 
thoroughly  enjoying  himself. 

That  night,  at  dinner,  walking  to  and  fro 
among  the  wine-glasses  on  the  table,  he  could 
have  stuffed  himself  three  times  over  with  nice 
things ;  but  he  remembered  Nag  and  Nagaina, 
and  though  it  was  very  pleasant  to  be  patted 
and    petted    by  Teddy's   mother,    and    to   sit  on 


192 


THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 


Teddy's  shoulder,  his  eyes  would  get  red  from 
time  to  time,  and  he  would  go  off  into  his  long 
war-cry  of  " Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk  /  " 

Teddy  carried  him  off  to  bed,  and  insisted  on 
Rikki-tikki  sleeping  under  his  chin.       Rikki-tikki 


"IN   THE    DARK    HE    RAN    UP   AGAINST    CHUCHUNDRA,   THE    MUSKRAT.' 


was  too  well  bred  to  bite  or  scratch,  but  as  soon 
as  Teddy  was  asleep  he  went  off  for  his  nightly 
walk  round  the  house,  and  in  the  dark  he  ran 
up  against  Chuchundra,  the  muskrat,  creeping 
round  by  the  wall.  Chuchundra  is  a  broken- 
hearted little  beast.      He  whimpers   and   cheeps 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI "  193 

all  the  night,  trying  to  make  up  his  mind  to  run 
into  the  middle  of  the  room,  but  he  never  gets 
there. 

"  Don't  kill  me,"  said  Chuchundra,  almost 
weeping.     "  Rikki-tikki,  don't  kill  me." 

"  Do  you  think  a  snake-killer  kills  musk- 
rats  ? "  said   Rikki-tikki  scornfully. 

"Those  who  kill  snakes  get  killed  by  snakes," 
said  Chuchundra,  more  sorrowfully  than  ever. 
"  And  how  am  I  to  be  sure  that  Nag  won't  mis- 
take me  for  you   some  dark  night  ? " 

"There  's  not  the  least  danger,"  said  Rikki- 
tikki  ;  "  but  Nag  is  in  the  garden,  and  I  know 
you  don't  go  there." 

"  My  cousin  Chua,  the  rat,  told  me — "  said 
Chuchundra,  and  then  he  stopped. 

"  Told  you  what  ?  " 

"  H'sh!  Nag  is  everywhere,  Rikki-tikki.  You 
should  have  talked  to  Chua  in  the  garden." 

"  I  did  n't — so  you  must  tell  me.  Quick,  Chu- 
chundra, or  I  '11  bite  you  !  " 

Chuchundra  sat  down  and  cried  till  the  tears 
rolled  off  his  whiskers.  "  I  am  a  very  poor 
man,"  he  sobbed.  "  I  never  had  spirit  enough 
to  run  out  into  the  middle  of  the  room.  I  I'sh  ! 
I  must  n't  tell  you  anything.  Can't  you  hear, 
Rikki-tikki?" 


194  THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 

Rikki-tikki  listened.  The  house  was  as  still  as 
still,  but  he  thought  he  could  just  catch  the  faintest 
scratch-swatch  in  the  world, —  a  noise  as  faint  as 
that  of  a  wasp  walking  on  a  window-pane, —  the 
dry  scratch  of  a  snake's  scales  on  brickwork. 

"That  's  Nag  or  Nagaina,"  he  said  to  himself; 
"and  he  is  crawling-  into  the  bath-room  sluice. 
You  're  right,  Chuchundra  ;  I  should  have  talked 
to  Chua." 

He  stole  off  to  Teddy's  bath-room,  but  there 
was  nothing  there,  and  then  to  Teddy's  mother's 
bath-room.  At  the  bottom  of  the  smooth  plaster 
wall  there  was  a  brick  pulled  out  to  make  a  sluice 
for  the  bath-water,  and  as  Rikki-tikki  stole  in  by 
the  masonry  curb  where  the  bath  is  put,  he  heard 
Nag  and  Nagaina  whispering  together  outside  in 
the  moonlight. 

"When  the  house  is  emptied  of  people,"  said 
Nagaina  to  her  husband,  "he  will  have  to  go 
away,  and  then  the  garden  will  be  our  own  again. 
Go  in  quietly,  and  remember  that  the  big  man 
who  killed  Karait  is  the  first  one  to  bite.  Then 
come  out  and  tell  me,  and  we  will  hunt  for  Rikki- 
tikki  together." 

"  But  are  you  sure  that  there  is  anything  to  be 
gained  by  killing  the  people  ?  "  said  Nag. 

"  Everything.     When  there  were  no  people  in 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TA VI ,s  195 

the  bungalow,  did  we  have  any  mongoose  in  the 
garden  ?  So  long  as  the  bungalow  is  empty,  we 
are  king  and  queen  of  the  garden ;  and  remem- 
ber that  as  soon  as  our  eggs  in  the  melon-bed 
hatch  (as  they  may  to-morrow),  our  children  will 
need  room  and  quiet." 

"  I  had  not  thought  of  that,"  said  Nag.  "  I 
will  go,  but  there  is  no  need  that  we  should  hunt 
for  Rikki-tikki  afterward.  I  will  kill  the  big  man 
and  his  wife,  and  the  child  if  I  can,  and  come 
away  quietly.  Then  the  bungalow  will  be  empty, 
and  Rikki-tikki  will  go." 

Rikki-tikki  tingled  all  over  with  rage  and  ha- 
tred at  this,  and  then  Nag's  head  came  through 
the  sluice,  and  his  five  feet  of  cold  body  followed 
it.  Angry  as  he  was,  Rikki-tikki  was  very  fright- 
ened as  he  saw  the  size  of  the  big  cobra.  Nag 
coiled  himself  up,  raised  his  head,  and  looked 
into  the  bath-room  in  the  dark,  and  Rikki  could 
see  his  eyes  glitter. 

"Now,  if  I  kill  him  here,  Nagaina  will  know; 
and  if  I  fight  him  on  the  open  floor,  the  odds  are 
in  his  favor.  What  am  I  to  do  ? "  said  Rikki- 
tikki-tavi. 

Nag  waved  to  and  fro,  and  then  Rikki-tikki 
heard  him  drinking  from  the  biggest  water-jar 
that  was  used  to  fill  the  bath.      "  That  is  good," 


196  THE   JUNGLE    BOOK 

said  the  snake.  "  Now,  when  Karait  was  killed, 
the  big  man  had  a  stick.  He  may  have  that 
stick  still,  but  when  he  comes  in  to  bathe  in  the 
morning  he  will  not  have  a  stick.  I  shall  wait 
here  till  he  comes.  Nagaina — do  you  hear  me? 
—  T  shall  wait  here  in  the  cool  till  daytime." 

There  was  no  answer  from  outside,  so  Rikki- 
tikki  knew  Nagaina  had  gone  away.  Nag  coiled 
himself  down,  coil  by  coil,  round  the  bulge  at  the 
bottom  of  the  water-jar,  and  Rikki-tikki  stayed 
still  as  death.  After  an  hour  he  began  to  move, 
muscle  by  muscle,  toward  the  jar.  Nag  was 
asleep,  and  Rikki-tikki  looked  at  his  big  back, 
wondering  which  would  be  the  best  place  for  a 
good  hold.  "If  I  don't  break  his  back  at  the 
first  jump,"  said  Rikki,  "he  can  still  fight;  and 
if  he  fights — O  Rikki !  "  He  looked  at  the  thick 
nessof  the  neck  below  the  hood,  but  that  was  too 
much  for  him  ;  and  a  bite  near  the  tail  would  only 
make  NaQf  savagfe. 

"It  must  be  the  head,"  he  said  at  last;  "the 
head  above  the  hood  ;  and,  when  I  am  once  there, 
I  must  not  let  gfo." 

Then  he  jumped.  The  head  was  lying  a  little 
clear  of  the  water-jar,  under  the  curve  of  it ;  and, 
as  his  teeth  met,  Rikki  braced  his  back  against 
the  bulge  of  the  red  earthenware  to  hold  down 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI 


197 


the  head.  This  gave  him  just  one  second's  pur- 
chase, and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  Then  he  was 
battered  to  and  fro  as  a  rat  is  shaken  by  a  dog — 
to  and  fro  on  the  floor,  up  and  down,  and  round 


"THEN    RIKKI-TIKKI    WAS    BATTERED    TO    AND    FRO    AS    A    RAT 
IS    SHAKEN    BY    A    DOG." 

in  great  circles  ;  but  his  eyes  were  red,  and  he  held 
on  as  the  body  cartwhipped  over  the  floor,  up- 
setting the  tin  dipper  and  the  soap-dish  and  the 
flesh-brush,  and  banged  against  the  tin  side  of 
the  bath.     As  he  held  he  closed  his  jaws  tighter 


i9S  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

and  tighter,  for  he  made  sure  he  would  be  banged 
to  death,  and,  for  the  honor  of  his  family,  he  pre- 
ferred to  be  found  with  his  teeth  locked.  He 
was  dizzy,  aching,  and  felt  shaken  to  pieces  when 
something  went  off  like  a  thunderclap  just  behind 
him ;  a  hot  wind  knocked  him  senseless  and  red 
fire  sinered  his  fur.  The  bi^r  man  had  been 
wakened  by  the  noise,  and  had  fired  both  barrels 
of  a  shot-gun  into  Nag  just  behind  the  hood. 

Rikki-tikki  held  on  with  his  eyes  shut,  for  now 
he  was  quite  sure  he  was  dead  ;  but  the  head  did 
not  move,  and  the  big  man  picked  him  up  and 
said :  "  It 's  the  mongoose  again,  Alice  ;  the  little 
chap  has  saved  our  lives  now."  Then  Teddy's 
mother  came  in  with  a  very  white  face,  and  saw 
what  was  left  of  Nag,  and  Rikki-tikki  dragged 
himself  to  Teddy's  bedroom  and  spent  half  the 
rest  of  the  night  shaking  himself  tenderly  to  find 
out  whether  he  really  was  broken  into  forty 
pieces,   as  he  fancied. 

When  morning  came  he  was  very  stiff,  but  well 
pleased  with  his  doings.  "  Now  I  have  Nagaina 
to  settle  with,  and  she  will  be  worse  than  five 
Nags,  and  there  's  no  knowing  when  the  eggs 
she  spoke  of  will  hatch.  Goodness !  I  must  go 
and  see  Darzee,"  he  said. 

Without  waiting  for  breakfast,  Rikki-tikki  ran 
to  the  thorn -bush  where  Darzee  was  singing"  a 


«  RIKKI-TIKKI- TAVI  "  199 

song  of  triumph  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  The 
news  of  Nag's  death  was  all  over  the  garden, 
for  the  sweeper  had  thrown  the  body  on  the 
rubbish-heap. 

"  Oh,  you  stupid  tuft  of  feathers  !  "  said  Rikki- 
tikki,  angrily.      "  Is  this  the  time  to  sing?" 

"  Nagf  is  dead  —  is  dead — is  dead  !  "  sang  Dar- 
zee.  "The  valiant  Rikki-tikki  caught  him  by 
the  head  and  held  fast.  The  big  man  brought 
the  bang-stick  and  Nag  fell  in  two  pieces !  He 
will  never  eat  my  babies  again." 

"  All  that  's  true  enough ;  but  where  's  Nag- 
aina?"  said  Rikki-tikki,  looking  carefully  round 
him. 

"  Nagaina  came  to  the  bath-room  sluice  and 
called  for  Nag,"  Darzee  went  on;  "and  Nag 
came  out  on  the  end  of  a  stick  — -  the  sweeper 
picked  him  up  on  the  end  of  a  stick  and  threw 
him  upon  the  rubbish-heap.  Let  us  sing  about 
the  great,  the  red-eyed  Rikki-tikki !  "  and  Darzee 
filled  his  throat  and  sang. 

"  If  I  could  get  up  to  your  nest,  I  M  roll  all 
your  babies  out !  "  said  Rikki-tikki.  "  You  don't 
know  when  to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right 
time.  You  're  safe  enough  in  your  nest  there, 
but  it  's  war  for  me  down  here.  Stop  singing  a 
minute,  Darzee." 

"  For     the     great,    the    beautiful    Rikki-tikki's 


200  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

sake  I  will  stop,"  said  Darzee.  "What  is  it, 
O  Killer  of  the  terrible  Nag !  " 

"  Where  is  Nagaina,  for  the  third  time  ?  " 

"  On  the  rubbish-heap  by  the  stables,  mourn- 
ing for  Nag.  Great  is  Rikki-tikki  with  the 
white  teeth." 

"Bother  my  white  teeth!  Have  you  ever 
heard  where  she  keeps  her  eggs  ? " 

"  In  the  melon-bed,  on  the  end  nearest  the 
wall,  where  the  sun  strikes  nearly  all  day.  She 
had  them  there  weeks  ago." 

"  And  you  never  thought  it  worth  while  to  tell 
me  ?     The  end  nearest  the  wall,  you  said  ?  " 

"  Rikki-tikki,  you  are  not  going  to  eat  her 
esrsfs  r 

"  Not  eat  exactly  ;  no.  Darzee,  if  you  have  a 
grain  of  sense  you  will  fly  off  to  the  stables  and 
pretend  that  your  wing  is  broken,  and  let  Nag- 
aina chase  you  away  to  this  bush  ?  I  must  get 
to  the  melon-bed,  and  if  I  went  there  now  she  'd 
see  me." 

Darzee  was  a  feather-brained  little  fellow  who 
could  never  hold  more  than  one  idea  at  a  time  in 
his  head ;  and  just  because  he  knew  that  Nag- 
aina's  children  were  born  in  eggs  like  his  own, 
he  did  n't  think  at  first  that  it  was  fair  to  kill 
them.      But  his  wife  was  a  sensible  bird,  and  she 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI"  203 

knew  that  cobra's  eggs  meant  young  cobras 
later  on  ;  so  she  flew  off  from  the  nest,  and  left 
Darzee  to  keep  the  babies  warm,  and  continue 
his  song  about  the  death  of  Nag.  Darzee  was 
very  like  a  man  in  some  ways. 

She  fluttered  in  front  of  Nagaina  by  the  rub- 
bish-heap, and  cried  out,  "  Oh,  my  wing  is  broken ! 
The  boy  in  the  house  threw  a  stone  at  me  and 
broke  it."  Then  she  fluttered  more  desperately 
than  ever. 

Nagaina  lifted  up  her  head  and  hissed,  "  You 
warned  Rikki-tikki  when  I  would  have  killed 
him.  Indeed  and  truly,  you  've  chosen  a  bad 
place  to  be  lame  in."  And  she  moved  toward 
Darzee's  wife,  slipping  along  over  the  dust. 

"The  boy  broke  it  with  a  stone!"  shrieked 
Darzee's  wife. 

"Well!  It  may  be  some  consolation  to  you 
when  you  're  dead  to  know  that  I  shall  settle 
accounts  with  the  boy.  My  husband  lies  on  the 
rubbish -heap  this  morning,  but  before  night  the 
boy  in  the  house  will  lie  very  still.  What  is 
the  use  of  running  away?  I  am  sure  to  catch 
you.      Little  fool,  look  at  me  !  " 

Darzee's  wife  knew  better  than  to  do  that,  for 
a  bird  who  looks  at  a  snake's  eyes  gets  so  fright- 
ened that  she  cannot  move.     Darzee's  wife  flut 


204  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

tered  on,  piping  sorrowfully,  and  never  leaving 
the  ground,  and  Nagaina  quickened  her  pace. 

Rikki-tikki  heard  them  going  up  the  path  from 
the  stables,  and  he  raced  for  the  end  of  the 
melon-patch  near  the  wall.  There,  in  the  warm 
litter  about  the  melons,  very  cunningly  hidden, 
he  found  twenty-five  eggs,  about  the  size  of  a  ban- 
tam's eggs,  but  with  whitish  skin  instead  of  shell. 

"I  was  not  a  day  too  soon,"  he  said;  for  he 
could  see  the  baby  cobras  curled  up  inside  the 
skin,  and  he  knew  that  the  minute  they  were 
hatched  they  could  each  kill  a  man  or  a  mon- 
goose. He  bit  off  the  tops  of  the  eggs  as  fast  as 
he  could,  taking  care  to  crush  the  young  cobras, 
and  turned  over  the  litter  from  time  to  time  to 
see  whether  he  had  missed  any.  At  last  there 
were  only  three  eggs  left,  and  Rikki-tikki  began 
to  chuckle  to  himself,  when  he  heard  Darzee's 
wife  screaming : 

"  Rikki-tikki,  I  led  Nagaina  toward  the  house, 
and  she  has  gone  into  the  veranda,  and  —  oh, 
come  quickly  —  she  means  killing  !  " 

Rikki-tikki  smashed  two  eggs,  and  tumbled 
backward  down  the  melon-bed  with  the  third  egg 
in  his  mouth,  and  scuttled  to  the  veranda  as  hard 
as  he  could  put  foot  to  the  ground.  Teddy  and 
his  mother  and  father  were  there  at  early  break- 
fast;  but  Rikki-tikki  saw  that  they  were  not  eat- 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI"  205 

ing  anything.  They  sat  stone-still,  and  their 
faces  were  white.  Nagaina  was  coiled  up  on  the 
matting  by  Teddy's  chair,  within  easy  striking 
distance  of  Teddy's  bare  leg,  and  she  was  sway- 
ing to  and  fro  singing  a  song  of  triumph. 

"  Son  of  the  big  man  that  killed  Nag,"  she 
hissed,  "  stay  still.  I  am  not  ready  yet.  Wait 
a  little.  Keep  very  still,  all  you  three.  If  you 
move  I  strike,  and  if  you  do  not  move  I  strike. 
Oh,  foolish  people,  who  killed  my  Nag  ! " 

Teddy's  eyes  were  fixed  on  his  father,  and  all 
his  father  could  do  was  to  whisper,  "  Sit  still, 
Teddy.     You  must  n't  move.     Teddy,  keep  still." 

Then  Rikki-tikki  came  up  and  cried:  "Turn 
round,  Nagaina ;   turn  and  fight !  " 

"  All  in  good  time,"  said  she,  without  moving 
her  eyes.  "  I  will  settle  my  account  with  you 
presently.  Look  at  your  friends,  Rikki-tikki. 
They  are  still  and  white  ;  they  are  afraid.  They 
dare  not  move,  and  if  you  come  a  step  nearer  I 
strike." 

"Look  at  your  eggs,"  said  Rikki-tikki,  "  in  the 
melon-bed  near  the  wall.     Go  and  look,  Nagaina." 

The  big  snake  turned  half  round,  and  saw  the 
egg  on  the  veranda.  "  Ah-h  !  Give  it  to  me," 
she  said. 

Rikki-tikki  put  his  paws  one  on  each  side  of 
the  egg,  and  his  eyes  were  blood-red.      "What 


2ob  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

price  for  a  snake's  egg?  For  a  young  cobra? 
For  a  young  king-cobra?  For  the  last  —  the 
very  last  of  the  brood  ?  The  ants  are  eating  all 
the  others  clown  by  the  melon-bed." 

Nagaina  spun  clear  round,  forgetting  every- 
thing for  the  sake  of  the  one  egg ;  and  Rikki- 
tikki  saw  Teddy's  father  shoot  out  a  big  hand, 
catch  Teddy  by  the  shoulder,  and  drag  him  across 
the  little  table  with  the  tea  cups,  safe  and  out  of 
reach  of  Nagaina. 

"Tricked!  Tricked!  Tricked!  Rikk-tck- 
tckf"  chuckled  Rikki-tikki.  "The  boy  is  safe, 
and  it  was  I  —  I  —  I  that  caught  Nag  by  the 
hood  last  night  in  the  bath-room."  Then  he 
began  to  jump  up  and  down,  all  four  feet  to- 
gether, his  head  close  to  the  floor.  "  He  threw 
me  to  and  fro,  but  he  could  not  shake  me  off. 
He  was  dead  before  the  big-  man  blew  him  in 
two.  I  did  it.  Rikki-tikki-tck-tck  /  Come  then, 
Nagaina.  Come  and  fight  with  me.  You  shall 
not  be  a  widow  long." 

Nagaina  saw  that  she  had  lost  her  chance  of 
killing  Teddy,  and  the  egg  lay  between  Rikki- 
tikki's  paws.  "  Give  me  the  egg,  Rikki-tikki. 
Give  me  the  last  of  my  eggs,  and  I  will  go  away 
and  never  come  back,"  she  said,  lowering  her 
hood. 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI" 


207 


"  Yes,  you  will  go  away,  and  you  will  never 
come  back  ;  for  you  will  go  to  the  rubbish-heap 
with  Nag.  Fight, 
widow  !  The  big  man 
has  gone  for  his  gun 
Fight ! " 

Rikki-tikki         was 
bounding    all     round 


againa, 

keeping     just 

out  of  reach  of  her 

stroke,  his  little  eyes 

like  hot  coals.     Nagaina 

gathered  herself  together,  and 

flung   out   at   him.      Rikki-tikki 

jumped  up  and  backward.      Again 

FLEW  and  again  and  again  she  struck,  and 


each  time  her  head  came  with  a  whack 


"  NAGAINA 

DOWN    THE    PATH, 

WITH  RIKKI-TIKKI 

behind  her."  Qn  ^  maXt[ng  Qf  the  veranda  and 
she  gathered  herself  together  like  a  watch-spring. 
Then  Rikki-tikki  danced  in  a  circle  to  get  behind 


208  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

her,  and  Nagaina  spun  round  to  keep  her  head  to 
his  head,  so  that  the  rustle  of  her  tail  on  the  mat- 
ting sounded  like  dry  leaves  blown  along  by  the 
wind. 

He  had  forgotten  the  egg.  It  still  lay  on  the 
veranda,  and  Nagaina  came  nearer  and  nearer 
to  it,  till  at  last,  while  Rikki-tikki  was  drawing 
breath,  she  caught  it  in  her  mouth,  turned  to 
the  veranda  steps,  and  flew  like  an  arrow  down 
the  path,  with  Rikki-tikki  behind  her.  When 
the  cobra  runs  for  her  life,  she  goes  like  a  whip- 
lash flicked  across  a  horse's  neck. 

Rikki-tikki  knew  that  he  must  catch  her,  or 
all  the  trouble  would  beoqn  agfain.  She  headed 
straight  for  the  long  grass  by  the  thorn-bush, 
and  as  he  was  running  Rikki-tikki  heard  Darzee 
still  singing  his  foolish  little  song  of  triumph. 
But  Darzee's  wife  was  wiser.  She  flew  off  her 
nest  as  Nagaina  came  along,  and  flapped  her 
wings  about  Nagaina's  head.  If  Darzee  had 
helped  they  might  have  turned  her ;  but  Nagaina 
only  lowered  her  hood  and  went  on.  Still,  the 
instant's  delay  brought  Rikki-tikki  up  to  her, 
and  as  she  plunged  into  the  rat-hole  where  she 
and  Nag  used  to  live,  his  little  white  teeth  were 
clenched  on  her  tail,  and  he  went  down  with  her 
■— ■  and  very   few  mongooses,   however  wise  and 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI "  209 

old  they  may  be,  care  to  follow  a  cobra  into  its 
hole.  It  was  dark  in  the  hole ;  and  Rikki-tikki 
never  knew  when  it  might  open  out  and  give 
Nagaina  room  to  turn  and  strike  at  him.  He  held 
on  savagely,  and  struck  out  his  feet  to  act  as 
brakes  on  the  dark  slope  of  the  hot,  moist  earth. 

Then  the  grass  by  the  mouth  of  the  hole 
stopped  waving,  and  Darzee  said:  "It  is  all 
over  with  Rikki-tikki  !  We  must  sing  his  death- 
song.  Valiant  Rikki-tikki  is  dead !  For  Nag- 
aina will  surely  kill  him  underground." 

So  he  sang  a  very  mournful  song  that  he 
made  up  all  on  the  spur  of  the  minute,  and  just 
as  he  got  to  the  most  touching  part  the  grass 
quivered  again,  and  Rikki-tikki,  covered  with 
dirt,  dragged  himself  out  of  the  hole  leg  by  leg, 
licking  his  whiskers.  Darzee  stopped  with  a 
little  shout.  Rikki-tikki  shook  some  of  the  dust 
out  of  his  fur  and  sneezed.  "  It  is  all  over,"  he 
said.  "The  widow  will  never  come  out  again." 
And  the  red  ants  that  live  between  the  grass 
stems  heard  him,  and  began  to  troop  down  one 
after  another  to  see  if  he  had  spoken  the  truth. 

Rikki-tikki  curled  himself  up  in  the  grass  and 
slept  where  he  was — slept  and  slept  till  it  was 
late  in  the  afternoon,  for  he  had  done  a  hard 
day's  work. 


2IO 


THE   JUNGLE  BOOK 


"  Now,"  he  said,  when  he  awoke,  "  I  will  go 
back  to  the  house.  Tell  the  Coppersmith,  Dar- 
zee,  and  he  will  tell  the  garden  that  Nagaina  is 
dead." 

The  Coppersmith  is  a  bird  who  makes  a  noise 


™!>igz 


"IT    IS    ALL    OVER." 


ixactly  like  the  beating  of  a  little  hammer  on  a 
copper  pot ;  and  the  reason  he  is  always  making 
it  is  because  he  is  the  town-crier  to  every  Indian 
garden,  and  tells  all  the  news  to  everybody  who 


"RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI"  211 

cares  to  listen.  As  Rikki-tikki  went  up  the  path, 
he  heard  his  "  attention  "  notes  like  a  tiny  dinner- 
gong;  and  then  the  steady  "  Ding-dong-tock ! 
Nag  is  dead — dong!  Nagaina  is  dead  !  Ding- 
dong-tock  /  "  That  set  all  the  birds  in  the  gar- 
den singing,  and  the  frogs  croaking ;  for  Nag 
and  Nagaina  used  to  eat  frogs  as  well  as  little 
birds. 

When  Rikki  got  to  the  house,  Teddy  and 
Teddy's  mother  (she  looked  very  white  still,  for 
she  had  been  fainting)  and  Teddy's  father  came 
out  and  almost  cried  over  him  ;  and  that  night  he 
ate  all  that  was  given  him  till  he  could  eat  no 
more,  and  went  to  bed  on  Teddy's  shoulder, 
where  Teddy's  mother  saw  him  when  she  came 
to  look  late  at  night. 

"  He  saved  our  lives  and  Teddy's  life,"  she 
said  to  her  husband.  "  Just  think,  he  saved  all 
our  lives.'' 

Rikki-tikki  woke  up  with  a  jump,  for  all  the 
mongooses  are  light  sleepers. 

<f  Oh,  it  's  you,"  said  he.  "  What  are  you 
bothering  for  ?  All  the  cobras  are  dead ;  and 
if  they  were  n't,  I  'm  here." 

Rikki-tikki  had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  himself; 
but  he  did  not  grow  too  proud,  and  he  kept  that 
garden  as  a  mongoose  should  keep  it,  with  tooth 


212  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

and  jump  and  spring  and  bite,  till  never  a  cobra 
dared  show  its  head  inside  the  walls. 


DARZEE'S    CHAUNT 

(sung  in  honor  of  rikki-tikki-tavi) 

Singer  and  tailor  am   I  — 

Doubled  the  joys  that  I  know  — 
Proud  of  my  lilt  through  the  sky, 
Proud  of  the  house  that  I  sew — 
Over  and   under,  so  weave   I   my  music — so  weave  1 
the  house  that  I  sew. 

Sing  to  your  fledglings  again, 

Mother,   oh  lift  up  your  head  ! 
Evil  that  plagued  us  is  slain, 
Death  in  the  garden  lies  dead. 
Terror   that   hid    in   the    roses    is   impotent — flung  on 
the  dung-hill  and  dead ! 

Who  hath  delivered  us,  who  ? 

Tell  me  his  nest  and  his  name. 
Rikki,   the  valiant,   the  true, 
Tikki,   with  eyeballs  of  flame. 
Rik-tikki-tikki,  the  ivory-fanged,  the  hunter  with  eye- 
balls of  flame. 


"  RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI »  213 

Give  him  the  Thanks  of  the  Birds, 
Bowing  with  tail-feathers  spread  ! 
Praise  him  with  nightingale  words- 
Nay,  I  will  praise  him  instead. 
Hear!  I  will  sing  you  the  praise  of  the  bottle-tailed 
Rikki,  with  eyeballs  of  red  ! 

{Here  Rikki-tikki  interrupted,  and  the  rest  of  the  song 
is  lost,) 


TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS 


1  will  remember  what  I  was,  I  am  sick  of  rope  and  chain  — 
I  will  remember  my  old  strength  and  all  my  forest  affairs. 

I  will  not  sell  my  back  to  man  for  a  bundle  of  sugar-cane, 
I  will  go  out  to  my  own  kind,  and  the  wood-folk  in  their  lairs 

I  will  go  out  until  the  day,  until  the  morning  break, 

Out  to  the  winds'  untainted  kiss,  the  waters'  clean  caress  : 

I  will  forget  my  ankle-ring  and  snap  my  picket-stake. 
I  will  revisit  my  lost  loves,  and  playmates  masterless ! 


TOOMAI  OF  THE   ELEPHANTS 


KALA  NAG,  which  means  Black  Snake,  had 
served  the  Indian  Government  in  every 
way  that  an  elephant  could  serve  it  for  forty  - 
seven  years,  and  as  he  was  fully  twenty  years  old 
when  he  was  caught,  that  makes  him  nearly 
seventy — a  ripe  age  for  an  elephant.  He  re- 
membered pushing,  with  a  big  leather  pad  on  his 
forehead,  at  a  gun  stuck  in  deep  mud,  and  that 
was  before  the  Afghan  war  of  1842,  and  he  had 
not  then  come  to  his  full  strength.  His  mother, 
Radha  Pyari, —  Radha  the  darling, — who  had 
been  caught  in  the  same  drive  with  Kala  Nag, 
told  him,  before  his  little  milk  tusks  had  dropped 
out,  that  elephants  who  were  afraid  always  got 


218  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

hurt:  and  Kala  Nag  knew  that  that  advice  was 
good,  for  the  first  time  that  he  saw  a  shell  burst 
he  backed,  screaming,  into  a  stand  of  piled  rifles, 
and  the  bayonets  pricked  him  in  all  his  softest 
places.  So,  before  he  was  twenty-five,  he  gave 
up  being  afraid,  and  so  he  was  the  best-loved  and 
the  best-looked-after  elephant  in  the  service  of 
the  Government  of  India.  He  had  carried  tents, 
twelve  hundred  pounds'  weight  of  tents,  on  the 
march  in  Upper  India:  he  had  been  hoisted  into 
a  ship  at  the  end  of  a  steam-crane  and  taken  for 
days  across  the  water,  and  made  to  carry  a  mor- 
tar on  his  back  in  a  strange  and  rocky  country 
very  far  from  India,  and  had  seen  the  Emperor 
Theodore  lying  dead  in  Magdala,  and  had  come 
back  again  in  the  steamer  entitled,  so  the  soldiers 
said,  to  the  Abyssinian  war  medal.  He  had  seen 
his  fellow-elephants  die  of  cold  and  epilepsy  and 
starvation  and  sunstroke  up  at  a  place  called  Ali 
Musjid,  ten  years  later ;  and  afterward  he  had 
been  sent  down  thousands  of  miles  south  to  haul 
and  pile  big  baulks  of  teak  in  the  timber-yards  at 
Moulmein.  There  he  had  half  killed  an  insub- 
ordinate  young  elephant  who  was  shirking  his 
fair  share  of  the  work. 

After   that   he   was   taken   off  timber-hauling, 
and  employed,  with  a  few  score  other  elephants 


TOOMAI   OF    THE   ELEPHANTS  221 

who  were  trained  to  the  business,  in  helping  to 
catch  wild  elephants  among  the  Garo  hills.  Ele- 
phants are  very  strictly  preserved  by  the  Indian 
Government.  There  is  one  whole  department 
which  does  nothing  else  but  hunt  them,  and 
catch  them,  and  break  them  in,  and  send  them 
up  and  down  the  country  as  they  are  needed 
for  work. 

Kala  Nag  stood  ten  fair  feet  at  the  shoulders, 
and  his  tusks  had  been  cut  off  short  at  five  feet, 
and  bound  round  the  ends,  to  prevent  them  split- 
ting, with  bands  of  copper ;  but  he  could  do 
more  with  those  stumps  than  any  untrained  ele- 
phant could  do  with  the  real  sharpened  ones. 

When,  after  weeks  and  weeks  of  cautious  driv- 
ing of  scattered  elephants  across  the  hills,  the 
forty  or  fifty  wild  monsters  were  driven  into  the 
last  stockade,  and  the  big  drop-gate,  made  of 
tree-trunks  lashed  together,  jarred  down  behind 
them,  Kala  Nag,  at  the  word  of  command,  would 
go  into  that  flaring,  trumpeting  pandemonium 
(generally  at  night,  when  the  flicker  of  the 
torches  made  it  difficult  to  judge  distances),  and, 
picking  out  the  biggest  and  wildest  tusker  of  the 
mob,  would  hammer  him  and  hustle  him  into 
quiet  while  the  men  on  the  backs  of  the  other 
elephants  roped  and  tied  the  smaller  ones. 


222  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

t.. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  fighting  that 
Kala  Nag,  the  old  wise  Black  Snake,  did  not 
know,  for  he  had  stood  up  more  than  once  in 
his  time  to  the  charge  of  the  wounded  tiger, 
and,  curling  up  his  soft  trunk  to  be  out  of 
harm's  way,  had  knocked  the  springing  brute 
sideways  in  mid-air  with  a  quick  sickle-cut  of 
his  head,  that  he  had  invented  all  by  himself; 
had  knocked  him  over,  and  kneeled  upon  him 
with  his  huge  knees  till  the  life  went  out  with 
a  gasp  and  a  howl,  and  there  was  only  a  fluffy 
striped  thing  on  the  ground  for  Kala  Nag  to  pull 
by  the  tail. 

"  Yes,"  said  Big  Toomai,  his  driver,  the  son  of 
Black  Toomai  who  had  taken  him  to  Abyssinia, 
and  grandson  of  Toomai  of  the  Elephants  who 
had  seen  him  caught,  "  there  is  nothing  that 
the  Black  Snake  fears  except  me.  He  has  seen 
three  generations  of  us  feed  him  and  groom  him, 
and  he  will  live  to  see  four." 

"  He  is  afraid  of  me  also,"  said  Little  Toomai, 
standing  up  to  his  full  height  of  four  feet,  with 
only  one  rag  upon  him.  He  was  ten  years  old, 
the  eldest  son  of  Big  Toomai,  and,  according  to 
custom,  he  would  take  his  father's  place  on  Kala 
Nag's  neck  when  he  grew  up,  and  would  handle 
the  heavy  iron  ankus,  the  elephant-goad  that  had 


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TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  225 

been  worn  smooth  by  his  father,  and  his  grand- 
father, and  his  great-grandfather.  He  knew  what 
he  was  talking  of;  for  he  had  been  born  under 
Kala  Nag's  shadow,  had  played  with  the'  end  of 
his  trunk  before  he  could  walk,  had  taken  him 
down  to  water  as  soon  as  he  could  walk,  and 
Kala  Nag  would  no  more  have  dreamed  of 
disobeying  his  shrill  little  orders  than  he  would 
have  dreamed  of  killing  him  on  that  day  when 
Big  Toomai  carried  the  little  brown  baby  under 
Kala  Nag's  tusks,  and  told  him  to  salute  his 
master  that  was  to  be. 

"  Yes,"  said  Little  Toomai,  "he  is  afraid  of 
me"  and  he  took  long  strides  up  to  Kala  Nag, 
called  him  a  fat  old  pig,  and  made  him  lift  up  his 
feet  one  after  the  other. 

"  Wah  ! "  said  Little  Toomai,  "  thou  art  a  big 
elephant,"  and  he  wagged  his  fluffy  head,  quoting 
his  father.  "The  Government  may  pay  for  ele- 
phants, but  they  belong  to  us  mahouts.  When 
thou  art  old,  Kala  Nag,  there  will  come  some  rich 
Rajah,  and  he  will  buy  thee  from  the  Govern- 
ment, on  account  of  thy  size  and  thy  manners, 
and  then  thou  wilt  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  carry 
gold  earrings  in  thy  ears,  and  a  gold  howdah  on 
thy  back,  and  a  red  cloth  covered  with  gold  on 
thy  sides,  and  walk  at  the  head  of  the  processions 


226  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

p. 

of  the  King.  Then  I  shall  sit  on  thy  neck,  O 
Kala  Nag,  with  a  silver  ankus,  and  men  will  run 
before  us  with  golden  sticks,  crying,  '  Room  for 
the  King's  elephant ! '  That  will  be  good,  Kala 
Nag,  but  not  so  good  as  this  hunting  in  the 
jungles." 

"  Umph  !  "  said  Big  Toomai.  "  Thou  art  a 
boy,  and  as  wild  as  a  buffalo-calf.  This  running 
up  and  down  among  the  hills  is  not  the  best 
Government  service.  I  am  o-ettinpf  old,  and  I  do 
not  love  wild  elephants.  Give  me  brick  elephant- 
lines,  one  stall  to  each  elephant,  and  big  stumps 
to  tie  them  to  safely,  and  flat,  broad  roads  to 
exercise  upon,  instead  of  this  come-and-go  camp- 
ing. Aha,  the  Cawnpore  barracks  were  good. 
There  was  a  bazaar  close  by,  and  only  three 
hours'  work   a   day." 

Little  Toomai  remembered  the  Cawnpore  ele- 
phant-lines and  said  nothing.  He  very  much 
preferred  the  camp  life,  and  hated  those  broad, 
flat  roads,  with  the  daily  grubbing  for  grass  in 
the  forage-reserve,  and  the  long  hours  when 
there  was  nothing  to  do  except  to  watch  Kala 
Nag  fidgeting  in  his  pickets. 

What  Little  Toomai  liked  was  to  scramble  up 
bridle-paths  that  only  an  elephant  could  take ; 
the  dip  into  the  valley  below ;   the  glimpses  of 


TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  227 

the  wild  elephants  browsing  miles  away ;  the 
rush  of  the  frightened  pig  and  peacock  under 
Kala  Nag's  feet ;  the  blinding  warm  rains,  when 
all  the  hills  and  valleys  smoked ;  the  beautiful 
misty  mornings  when  nobody  knew  where  they 
would  camp  that  night ;  the  steady,  cautious 
drive  of  the  wild  elephants,  and  the  mad  rush  and 
blaze  and  hullaballoo  of  the  last  night's  drive, 
when  the  elephants  poured  into  the  stockade  like 
boulders  in  a  landslide,  found  that  they  could  not 
get  out,  and  flung  themselves  at  the  heavy  posts 
only  to  be  driven  back  by  yells  and  flaring  torches 
and  volleys  of  blank  cartridge. 

Even  a  little  boy  could  be  of  use  there,  and 
Toomai  was  as  useful  as  three  boys.  He  would 
get  his  torch  and  wave  it,  and  yell  with  the  best. 
But  the  really  good  time  came  when  the  driving 
out  began,  and  the  Keddah,  that  is,  the  stockade, 
looked  like  a  picture  of  the  end  of  the  world,  and 
men  had  to  make  signs  to  one  another,  because 
they  could  not  hear  themselves  speak.  Then 
Little  Toomai  would  climb  up  to  the  top  of  one 
of  the  quivering  stockade-posts,  his  sun-bleached 
brown  hair  flying  loose  all  over  his  shoulders,  and 
he  looking  like  a  goblin  in  the  torch-light ;  and 
as  soon  as  there  was  a  lull  you  could  hear  his 
high-pitched    yells    of    encouragement   to    Kala 


228,  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

Nag,  above  the  trumpeting  and  crashing,  and 
snapping  of  ropes,  and  groans  of  the  tethered 
elephants.  "Mail,  mail,  Kala  Nag!  (Go  on, 
go  on,  Black  Snake  !)  Dant  do!  (Give  him  the 
tusk  !)  Somalo  !  Somalo  !  (Careful,  careful !) 
Maro!  Mar!  (Hit  him,  hit  him  !)  Mind  the 
post!  Arre !  Arre !  Hai !  Yai!  Kya-a-ak!" 
he  would  shout,  and  the  big  fight  between  Kala 
Nag  and  the  wild  elephant  would  sway  to  and  fro 
across  the  Keddah,  and  the  old  elephant-catchers 
would  wipe  the  sweat  out  of  their  eyes,  and  find 
time  to  nod  to  Little  Toomai  wriggling  with  joy 
on  the  top  of  the  posts. 

He  did  more  than  wriggle.  One  night  he  slid 
down  from  the  post  and  slipped  in  between  the 
elephants,  and  threw  up  the  loose  end  of  a  rope, 
which  had  dropped,  to  a  driver  who  was  trying  to 
get  a  purchase  on  the  leg  of  a  kicking  young 
calf  (calves  always  give  more  trouble  than  full- 
grown  animals).  Kala  Nag  saw  him,  caught 
him  in  his  trunk,  and  handed  him  up  to  Big 
Toomai,  who  slapped  him  then  and  there,  and 
put  him  back  on  the  post. 

Next  morning  he  gave  him  a  scolding,  and 
said:  "Are  not  good  brick  elephant-lines  and  a 
little  tent-carrying  enough,  that  thou  must  needs 
go  elephant-catching  on  thy  own  account,  little 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  231 

worthless  ?  Now  those  foolish  hunters,  whose 
pay  is  less  than  my  pay,  have  spoken  to  Petersen 
Sahib  of  the  matter."  Little  Toomai  was  fright- 
ened. He  did  not  know  much  of  white  men,  but 
Petersen  Sahib  was  the  greatest  white  man  in 
the  world  to  him.  He  was  the  head  of  all  the 
Keddah  operations — -the  man  who  caught  all  the 
elephants  for  the  Government  of  India,  and  who 
knew  more  about  the  ways  of  elephants  than  any 
living  man. 

"What — what  will  happen?"  said  Little 
Toomai. 

"  Happen  !  the  worst  that  can  happen.  Peter- 
sen Sahib  is  a  madman.  Else  why  should  he  go 
hunting  these  wild  devils?  He  may  even  require 
thee  to  be  an  elephant-catcher,  to  sleep  anywhere 
in  these  fever-filled  jungles,  and  at  last  to  be 
trampled  to  death  in  the  Keddah.  It  is  well  that 
this  nonsense  ends  safely.  Next  week  the  catch- 
ing is  over,  and  we  of  the  plains  are  sent  back  to 
our  stations.  Then  we  will  march  on  smooth 
roads,  and  forget  all  this  hunting.  But,  son,  I 
am  angry  that  thou  shouldst  meddle  in  the  busi- 
ness that  belongs  to  these  dirty  Assamese  jungle- 
folk.  Kala  Nag  will  obey  none  but  me,  so  I 
must  go  with  him  into  the  Keddah,  but  he  is 
only  a  fighting  elephant,  and  he  does  not  help  to 


232^  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

rope  them.  So  I  sit  at  my  ease,  as  befits  a 
mahout, — not  a  mere  hunter, — a  mahout,  I  say, 
and  a  man  who  gets  a  pension  at  the  end  of  his 
service.  Is  the  family  of  Toomai  of  the  Ele- 
phants to  be  trodden  underfoot  in  the  dirt  of  a 
Keddah  ?  Bad  one  !  Wicked  one  !  Worthless 
son  !  Go  and  wash  Kala  Na^  and  attend  to  his 
ears,  and  see  that  there  are  no  thorns  in  his  feet; 
or  else  Petersen  Sahib  will  surely  catch  thee  and 
make  thee  a  wild  hunter — a  follower  of  elephant's 
foot-tracks,  a  jungle-bear.    Bah  !    Shame  !    Go  !  " 

Little  Toomai  went  off  without  saying  a  word, 
but  he  told  Kala  Nag  all  his  grievances  while 
he  was  examining  his  feet.  "  No  matter,"  said 
Little  Toomai,  turning  up  the  fringe  of  Kala 
Nag's  huge  right  ear.  "  They  have  said  my 
name  to  Petersen  Sahib,  and  perhaps  —  and 
perhaps  —  and  perhaps  —  who  knows  ?  Hai ! 
That  is  a  big  thorn  that  I  have  pulled  out ! " 

The  next  few  days  were  spent  in  getting 
the  elephants  together,  in  walking  the  newly 
caught  wild  elephants  up  and  down  between  a 
couple  of  tame  ones,  to  prevent  them  from  giv- 
ing too  much  trouble  on  the  downward  march 
to  the  plains,  and  in  taking  stock  of  the  blankets 
and  ropes  and  things  that  had  been  worn  out  or 
lost  in  the  forest. 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  233 

Petersen  Sahib  came  in  on  his  clever  she- 
elephant  Pudmini ;  he  had  been  paying  off  other 
camps  among  the  hills,  for  the  season  was  com- 
ing to  an  end,  and  there  was  a  native  clerk 
sitting  at  a  table  under  a  tree,  to  pay  the  driv- 
ers their  wages.  As  each  man  was  paid  he  went 
back  to  his  elephant,  and  joined  the  line  that 
stood  ready  to  start.  The  catchers,  and  hunters, 
and  beaters,  the  men  of  the  regular  Keddah,  who 
stayed  in  the  jungle  year  in  and  year  out,  sat 
on  the  backs  of  the  elephants  that  belonged 
to  Petersen  Sahib's  permanent  force,  or  leaned 
against  the  trees  with  their  guns  across  their 
arms,  and  made  fun  of  the  drivers  who  were 
going  away,  and  laughed  when  the  newly  caught 
elephants  broke  the  line  and  ran  about. 

Big  Toomai  went  up  to  the  clerk  with  Little 
Toomai  behind  him,  and  Machua  Appa,  the  head- 
tracker,  said  in  an  undertone  to  a  friend  of 
his,  "There  goes  one  piece  of  good  elephant- 
stuff  at  least.  'T  is  a  pity  to  send  that  young 
jungle-cock  to  moult  in  the  plains." 

Now  Petersen  Sahib  had  ears  all  over  him,  as  a 
man  must  have  who  listens  to  the  most  silent 
of  all  living  things  —  the  wild  elephant.  He 
turned  where  he  was  lying  all  along  on  Pud- 
mini's  back,  and  said,  "What  is  that?      I  did  not 


234  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

know  of  a  man  among  the  plain-drivers  who  had 
wit  enough  to  rope  even  a  dead  elephant." 

"  This  is  not  a  man,  but  a  boy.  He  went 
into  the  Keddah  at  the  last  drive,  and  threw 
Barmao  there  the  rope,  when  we  were  trying 
to  get  that  young  calf  with  the  blotch  on  his 
shoulder  away  from  his  mother." 

Machua  Appa  pointed  at  Little  Toomai,  and 
Petersen  Sahib  looked,  and  Little  Toomai  bowed 
to  the  earth. 

"  He  throw  a  rope  ?  He  is  smaller  than  a 
picket-pin.  Little  one,  what  is  thy  name  ?  "  said 
Petersen  Sahib. 

Little  Toomai  was  too  frightened  to  speak, 
but  Kala  Nag  was  behind  him,  and  Toomai 
made  a  sign  with  his  hand,  and  the  elephant 
caught  him  up  in  his  trunk  and  held  him  level 
with  Pudmini's  forehead,  in  front  of  the  great 
Petersen  Sahib.  Then  Little  Toomai  covered 
his  face  with  his  hands,  for  he  was  only  a  child, 
and  except  where  elephants  were  concerned,  he 
was  just  as   bashful   as   a  child   could   be. 

"Oho!"  said  Petersen  Sahib,  smiling  under- 
neath his  mustache,  "and  why  didst  thou  teach 
thy  elephant  that  trick  ?  Was  it  to  help  thee 
steal  green  corn  from  the  roofs  of  the  houses 
when  the  ears  are  put  out  to  dry  ?  " 


"NOT    GREEN    CORN,   PROTECTOR    OF    THE    POOR. —  MELONS,' 
SAID    LITTLE    TOOMAI." 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  237 

"  Not  green  corn,  Protector  of  the  Poor, — 
melons,"  said  Little  Toomai,  and  all  the  men 
sitting  about  broke  into  a  roar  of  laughter. 
Most  of  them  had  taught  their  elephants  that 
trick  when  they  were  boys.  Little  Toomai  was 
hanging  eight  feet  up  in  the  air,  and  he  wished 
very  much  that  he  were  eight  feet  underground. 

"  He  is  Toomai,  my  son,  Sahib,"  said  Big 
Toomai,  scowling.  "  He  is  a  very  bad  boy,  and 
he  will  end  in  a  jail,  Sahib." 

"  Of  that  I  have  my  doubts,"  said  Petersen 
Sahib.  "A  boy  who  can  face  a  full  Keddah  at 
his  age  does  not  end  in  jails.  See,  little  one, 
here  are  four  annas  to  spend  in  sweetmeats  be- 
cause thou  hast  a  little  head  under  that  great 
thatch  of  hair.  In  time  thou  mayest  become  a 
hunter  too."  Big  Toomai  scowled  more  than 
ever.  "  Remember,  though,  that  Keddahs  are 
not  good  for  children  to  play  in,"  Petersen  Sahib 
went  on. 

"Must  I  never  go  there,  Sahib?"  asked  Little 
Toomai,  with  a  big  gasp. 

"Yes."  Petersen  Sahib  smiled  again.  "When 
thou  hast  seen  the  elephants  dance.  That  is  the 
proper  time.  Come  to  me  when  thou  hast  seen 
the  elephants  dance,  and  then  I  will  let  thee  go 
into  all  the  Keddahs." 


2^8  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

There  was  another  roar  of  laughter,  for  that 
is  an  old  joke  among  elephant-catchers,  and  it 
means  just  never.  There  are  great  cleared  flat 
places  hidden  away  in  the  forests  that  are  called 
elephants'  ballrooms,  but  even  these  are  found 
only  by  accident,  and  no  man  has  ever  seen  the 
elephants  dance.  When  a  driver  boasts  of  his 
skill  and  bravery  the  other  drivers  say-,  "And 
when  didst  thou  see  the  elephants  dance  ?  " 

Kala  Nag  put  Little  Toomai  down,  and  he 
bowed  to  the  earth  again  and  went  away  with  his 
father,  and  gave  the  silver  four-anna  piece  to  his 
mother,  who  was  nursing  his  baby-brother,  and 
they  all  were  put  up  on  Kala  Nag's  back,  and  the 
line  of  grunting,  squealing  elephants  rolled  down 
the  hill-path  to  the  plains.  It  was  a  very  lively 
march  on  account  of  the  new  elephants,  who  gave 
trouble  at  every  ford,  and  who  needed  coaxing  or 
beating  every  other  minute. 

Big  Toomai  prodded  Kala  Nag  spitefully,  for 
he  was  very  angry,  but  Little  Toomai  was  too 
happy  to  speak.  Petersen  Sahib  had  noticed 
him,  and  given  him  money,  so  he  felt  as  a  private 
soldier  would  feel  if  he  had  been  called  out  of  the 
ranks  and  praised  by  his  commander-in-chief. 

"What  did  Petersen  Sahib  mean  by  the  ele- 
phant-dance?" he  said,  at  last,  softly  to  his 
mother 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  239 

Big  Toomai  heard  him  and  grunted.  "That 
thou  shouldst  never  be  one  of  these  hill-buffaloes 
of  trackers.  That  was  what  he  meant.  Oh  you 
in  front,  what  is  blocking  the  way  ? " 

An  Assamese  driver,  two  or  three  elephants 
ahead,  turned  round  angrily,  crying:  "Bring  up 
Kala  Nag,  and  knock  this  youngster  of  mine  into 
good  behavior.  Why  should  Petersen  Sahib  have 
chosen  me  to  go  down  with  you  donkeys  of  the 
rice-fields  ?  Lay  your  beast  alongside,  Toomai, 
and  let  him  prod  with  his  tusks.  By  all  the 
Gods  of  the  Hills,  these  new  elephants  are  pos- 
sessed, or  else  they  can  smell  their  companions  in 
the  jungle." 

Kala  Nag  hit  the  new  elephant  in  the  ribs  and 
knocked  the  wind  out  of  him,  as  Big  Toomai 
said,  "We  have  swept  the  hills  of  wild  ele- 
phants at  the  last  catch.  It  is  only  your  care- 
lessness in  driving.  Must  I  keep  order  along 
the  whole  line  ?  " 

"  Hear  him  !  "  said  the  other  driver.  "  We 
have  swept  the  hills !  Ho  !  ho !  You  are  very 
wise,  you  plains-people.  Any  one  but  a  mud- 
head  who  never  saw  the  jungle  would  know 
that  they  know  that  the  drives  are  ended  for  the 
season.  Therefore  all  the  wild  elephants  to- 
night will  —  but  why  should  I  waste  wisdom  on 
a  river-turtle  ?  * 


24Q  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

"  What  will  they  do  ?  "  Little  Toomai  called 
out. 

"Oke,  little  one.  Art  thou  there?  Well,  I  will 
tell  thee,  for  thou  hast  a  cool  head.  They  will 
dance,  and  it  behooves  thy  father,  who  has  swept 
all  the  hills  of  all  the  elephants,  to  double-chain 
his  pickets  to-night." 

"  What  talk  is  this  ?  "  said  Big  Toomai.  "  For 
forty  years,  father  and  son,  we  have  tended 
elephants,  and  we  have  never  heard  such  moon- 
shine about  dances." 

"  Yes  ;  but  a  plains-man  who  lives  in  a  hut 
knows  only  the  four  walls  of  his  hut.  Well, 
leave  thy  elephants  unshackled  to-night  and  see 
what  comes  ;  as  for  their  dancing,  I  have  seen 
the  place  where  —  Bapree-Bap  /  how  many  wind- 
ings has  the  Dihang  River?  Here  is  another 
ford,  and  we  must  swim  the  calves.  Stop  still, 
you  behind  there." 

And  in  this  way,  talking  and  wrangling  and 
splashing  through  the  rivers,  they  made  their 
first  march  to  a  sort  of  receiving-camp  for  the 
new  elephants ;  but  they  lost  their  tempers  long 
before  they  got  there. 

Then  the  elephants  were  chained  by  their  hind 
legs  to  their  big  stumps  of  pickets,  and  extra 
ropes  were  fitted  to  the  new  elephants,  and  the 


TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  241 

fodder  was  piled  before  them,  and  the  hill-drivers 
went  back  to  Petersen  Sahib  through  the  after- 
noon light,  telling  tne  plains  drivers  to  be  extra 
careful  that  night,  and  laughing  when  the  plains- 
drivers  asked  the  reason. 

Little  Toomai  attended  to  Kala  Nag's  supper, 
and  as  evening  fell,  wandered  through  the  camp, 
unspeakably  happy,  in  search  of  a  tom-tom. 
When  an  Indian  child's  heart  is  full,  he  does  not 
run  about  and  make  a  noise  in  an  irregular 
fashion.  He  sits  down  to  a  sort  of  revel  all  by 
himself.  And  Little  Toomai  had  been  spoken  to 
by  Petersen  Sahib  !  If  he  had  not  found  what  he 
wanted  I  believe  he  would  have  burst.  But  the 
sweatmeat-seller  in  the  camp  lent  him  a  little 
tom-tom  — a  drum  beaten  with  the  flat  of  the 
hand — and  he  sat  down,  cross-legged,  before  Kala 
Nag  as  the  stars  begai\  to  come  out,  the  tom- 
tom in  his  lap,  and  he  thumped  and  he  thumped 
and  he  thumped,  and  the  more  he  thought  of  the 
great  honor  that  had  been  done  to  him,  the  more 
he  thumped,  all  alone  among  the  elephant-fodder. 
There  was  no  tune  and  no  words,  but  the  thump- 
ing made  him  happy. 

The  new  elephants  strained  at  their  ropes,  and 
squealed  and  trumpeted  from  time  to  time,  and 
he  could  hear  his  mother  in  the  camp  hut  putting 


2^2  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

his  small  brother  to  sleep  with  an  old,  old  song 
about  the  great  God  Shiv,  who  once  told  all  the 
animals  what  they  should  eat.  It  is  a  very  sooth- 
ing lullaby,  and  the  first  verse  says  : 

Shiv,  who  poured  the  harvest  and  made  the  winds  to  blow, 

Sitting  at  the  doorways  of  a  day  of  long  ago, 

Gave  to  each  his  portion,  food  and  toil  and  fate, 

From  the  King  upon  the  guddee  to  the  Beggar  at  the  gate. 

All  things  made  he — Shiva  the  Preserver. 

Mahadeo  !    Mahadeo  !    he  made  all, — 

Thorn  for  the  camel,  fodder  for  the  kine, 

And  mother's  heart  for  sleepy  head,  O  little  son  of  mine ! 

Little  Toomai  came  in  with  a  joyous  tunk-a-tunk 
at  the  end  of  each  verse,  till  he  felt  sleepy  and 
stretched  himself  on  the  fodder  at  Kala  Nag's 
side. 

At  last  the  elephants  began  to  lie  down  one 
after  another  as  is  their  custom,  till  only  Kala 
Nag  at  the  right  of  the  line  was  left  standing  up; 
and  he  rocked  slowly  from  side  to  side,  his  ears 
put  forward  to  listen  to  the  night  wind  as  it  blew 
very  slowly  across  the  hills.  The  air  was  full  of 
all  the  night  noises  that,  taken  together,  make 
one  big  silence  —  the  click  of  one  bamboo-stem 
against  the  other,  the  rustle  of  something  alive 
in  the  undergrowth,  the  scratch  and  squawk  of  a 
half-waked  bird  (birds   are   awake   in  the  night 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  243 

much  more  often  than  we  imagine),  and  the  fall 
of  water  ever  so  far  away.  Little  Toomai  slept 
for  some  time,  and  when  he  waked  it  was  brilliant 
moonlight,  and  Kala  Nag  was  still  standing  up 
with  his  ears  cocked.  Little  Toomai  turned, 
rustling  in  the  fodder,  and  watched  the  curve  of 
his  bie  back  against  half  the  stars  in  heaven,  and 
while  he  watched  he  heard,  so  far  away  that  it 
sounded  no  more  than  a  pinhole  of  noise  pricked 
through  the  stillness,  the  "hoot-toot"  of  a  wild 
elephant. 

All  the  elephants  in  the  lines  jumped  up  as  if 
they  had  been  shot,  and  their  grunts  at  last 
waked  the  sleeping  mahouts,  and  they  came  out 
and  drove  in  the  picket-pegs  with  big  mallets, 
and  tightened  this  rope  and  knotted  that  till 
all  was  quiet.  One  new  elephant  had  nearly 
grubbed  up  his  picket,  and  Big  Toomai  took  off 
Kala  Nag's  leg-chain  and  shackled  that  elephant 
fore  foot  to  hind  foot,  but  slipped  a  loop  of  grass- 
string-  round  Kala  Nag's  leg-,  and  told  him  to 
remember  that  he  was  tied  fast.  He  knew  that 
he  and  his  father  and  his  grandfather  had  done 
the  very  same  thing  hundreds  of  times  before. 
Kala  Nag  did  not  answer  to  the  order  by  gur- 
gling, as  he  usually  did.  He  stood  still,  looking 
out  across  the  moonlight,  his  head  a  little  raised 


244  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

and  his  ears  spread  like  fans,  up  to  the  great 
folds  of  the  Garo  hills. 

"  Look  to  him  if  he  grows  restless  in  the 
night,"  said  Big  Toomai  to  Little  Toomai,  and 
he  went  into  the  hut  and  slept.  Little  Toomai 
was  just  going  to  sleep,  too,  when  he  heard  the 
coir  string  snap  with  a  little  "tang,"  and  Kala 
Nag  rolled  out  of  his  pickets  as  slowly  and  as 
silently  as  a  cloud  rolls  out  of  the  mouth  of  a 
valley.  Little  Toomai  pattered  after  him,  bare- 
footed, down  the  road  in  the  moonlight,  calling 
under  his  breath,  "Kala  Nag!  Kala  Nag!  Take 
me  with  you,  O  Kala  Nag ! "  The  elephant 
turned  without  a  sound,  took  three  strides  back 
to  the  boy  in  the  moonlight,  put  down  his  trunk, 
swung  him  up  to  his  neck,  and  almost  before 
Little  Toomai  had  settled  his  knees,  slipped  into 
the  forest. 

There  was  one  blast  of  furious  trumpeting  from 
the  lines,  and  then  the  silence  shut  down  on 
everything,  and  Kala  Nag  began  to  move. 
Sometimes  a  tuft  of  high  grass  washed  along 
his  sides  as  a  wave  washes  along  the  sides  of  a 
ship,  and  sometimes  a  cluster  of  wild-pepper 
vines  would  scrape  along  his  back,  or  a  bamboo 
would  creak  where  his  shoulder  touched  it ;  but 
between  those  times  he  moved  absolutely  without 


TOOMAI   OF   THE  ELEPHANTS  245 

any  sound,  drifting  through  the  thick  Garo  forest 
as  though  it  had  been  smoke.  He  was  going  up- 
hill, but  though  Little  Toomai  watched  the  stars 
in  the  rifts  of  the  trees,  he  could  not  tell  in  what 
direction. 

Then  Kala  Nag  reached  the  crest  of  the  ascent 
and  stopped  for  a  minute,  and  Little  Toomai 
could  see  the  tops  of  the  trees  lying  all  speckled 
and  furry  under  the  moonlight  for  miles  and 
miles,  and  the  blue-white  mist  over  the  river  in 
the  hollow.  Toomai  leaned  forward  and  looked, 
and  he  felt  that  the  forest  was  awake  below  him 

—  awake  and  alive  and  crowded.  A  big  brown 
fruit-eating  bat  brushed  past  his  ear ;  a  porcu- 
pine's quills  rattled  in  the  thicket,  and  in  the 
darkness  between  the  tree-stems  he  heard  a  hog- 
bear  digging  hard  in  the  moist  warm  earth,  and 
snuffing  as  it  digged. 

Then  the  branches  closed  over  his  head  again, 
and  Kala  Nag  began  to  go  down  into  the  valley 

—  not  quietly  this  time,  but  as  a  runaway  gun 
goes  down  a  steep  bank- — in  one  rush.  The 
huge  limbs  moved  as  steadily  as  pistons,  eight 
feet  to  each  stride,  and  the  wrinkled  skin  of  the 
elbow-points  rustled.  The  undergrowth  on  either 
side  of  him  ripped  with  a  noise  like  torn  canvas, 
and  the  saplings  that  he  heaved  away  right  and 


246  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

left  with  his  shoulders  sprang  back  again,  and 
banged  him  on  the  flank,  and  great  trails  of 
creepers,  all  matted  together,  hung  from  his 
tusks  as  he  threw  his  head  from  side  to  side 
and  plowed  out  his  pathway.  Then  Little 
Toomai  laid  himself  down  close  to  the  great 
neck,  lest  a  swinging  bough  should  sweep  him 
to  the  ground,  and  he  wished  that  he  were  back 
in  the  lines  again. 

The  grass  began  to  get  squashy,  and  Kala 
Nag's  feet  sucked  and  squelched  as  he  put  them 
down,  and  the  night  mist  at  the  bottom  of  the 
valley  chilled  Little  Toomai.  There  was  a  splash 
and  a  trample,  and  the  rush  of  running  water, 
and  Kala  Nag  strode  through  the  bed  of  a  river! 
feeling  his  way  at  each  step.  Above  the  noise  of 
the  water,  as  it  swirled  round  the  elephant's  legs, 
Little  Toomai  could  hear  more  splashing  and  some 
trumpeting  both  up-stream  and  down  —  great, 
grunts  and  angry  snortings,  and  all  the  mist  about 
him  seemed  to  be  full  of  rolling  wavy  shadows. 

"Az/"  he  said,  half  aloud,  his  teeth  chattering. 
"The  elephant-folk  are  out  to-night  It  is  the 
dance,  then." 

Kala  Nag  swashed  out  of  the  water,  blew  his 
trunk  clear,  and  began  another  climb ;  but  this 
time  he  was  not  alone,  and  he  had  not  to  make  hi-s 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  247 

path.  That  was  made  already,  six  feet  wide,  in 
front  of  him,  where  the  bent  jungle-grass  was 
trying  to  recover  itself  and  stand  up.  Many  ele- 
phants must  have  gone  that  way  only  a  few 
minutes  before.  Little  Toomai  looked  back,  and 
behind  him  a  great  wild  tusker  with  his  little 
pig's  eyes  glowing  like  hot  coals,  was  just  lifting 
himself  out  of  the  misty  river.  Then  the  trees 
closed  up  again,  and  they  went  on  and  up,  with 
trumpetings  and  crashings,  and  the  sound  of 
breaking  branches  on  every  side  of  them. 

At  last  Kala  Nag  stood  still  between  two  tree- 
trunks  at  the  very  top  of  the  hill.  They  were 
part  of  a  circle  of  trees  that  grew  round  an  irreg- 
ular space  of  some  three  or  four  acres,  and  in 
all  that  space,  as  Little  Toomai  could  see,  the 
ground  had  been  trampled  down  as  hard  as  a 
brick  floor.  Some  trees  grew  in  the  center  of 
the  clearing,  but  their  bark  was  rubbed  away, 
and  the  white  wood  beneath  showed  all  shiny 
and  polished  in  the  patches  of  moonlight.  There 
were  creepers  hanging  from  the  upper  branches, 
and  the  bells  of  the  flowers  of  the  creepers,  great 
waxy  white  things  like  convolvuluses,  hung  down 
fast  asleep ;  but  within  the  limits  of  the  clearing 
there  was  not  a  single  blade  of  green  —  nothing 
but  the  trampled  earth. 


248  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

The  moonlight  showed  it  all  iron-gray,  except 
where  some  elephants  stood  upon  it,  and  their 
shadows  were  inky  black.  Little  Toomai  looked, 
holding  his  breath,  with  his  eyes  starting  out  of 
his  head,  and  as  he  looked,  more  and  more  and 
more  elephants  swung  out  into  the  open  from 
between  the  tree-trunks.  Little  Toomai  could 
count  only  up  to  ten,  and  he  counted  again  and 
again  on  his  fingers  till  he  lost  count  of  the  tens, 
and  his  head  began  to  swim.  Outside  the  clear- 
ing he  could  hear  them  crashing  in  the  under- 
growth as  they  worked  their  way  up  the  hillside  ; 
but  as  soon  as  they  were  within  the  circle  of  the 
tree-trunks  they  moved  like  ghosts. 

There  were  white-tusked  wild  males,  with 
fallen  leaves  and  nuts  and  twigs  lying  in  the 
wrinkles  of  their  necks  and  the  folds  of  their 
ears ;  fat  slow-footed  she-elephants,  with  restless, 
little  pinky-black  calves  only  three  or  four  feet 
high  running  under  their  stomachs ;  young  ele- 
phants with  their  tusks  just  beginning  to  show, 
and  very  proud  of  them;  lanky,  scraggy  old- 
maid  elephants,  with  their  hollow  anxious  faces, 
and  trunks  like  rough  bark ;  savage  old  bull-ele- 
phants, scarred  from  shoulder  to  flank  with  great 
weals  and  cuts  of  bygone  fights,  and  the  caked 
dirt  of  their  solitary  mud-baths   dropping   from 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  249 

their  shoulders ;  and  there  was  one  with  a  broken 
tusk  and  the  marks  of  the  full-stroke,  the  terrible 
drawing  scrape,  of  a  tiger's  claws  on  his  side. 

They  were  standing  head  to  head,  or  walking 
to  and  fro  across  the  ground  in  couples,  or  rock- 
ing and  swaying  all  by  themselves — scores  and 
scores  of  elephants. 

Toomai  knew  that  so  long  as  he  lay  still  on 
Kala  Nag's  neck  nothing  would  happen  to  him ; 
for  even  in  the  rush  and  scramble  of  a  Keddah- 
drive  a  wild  elephant  does  not  reach  up  with  his 
trunk  and  drag  a  man  off  the  neck  of  a  tame 
elephant ;  and  these  elephants  were  not  thinking 
of  men  that  night.  Once  they  started  and  put 
their  ears  forward  when  they  heard  the  chink- 
ing of  a  leg-iron  in  the  forest,  but  it  was  Pud- 
mini,  Petersen  Sahib's  pet  elephant,  her  chain 
snapped  short  off,  grunting,  snuffling  up  the  hill- 
side. She  must  have  broken  her  pickets,  and 
come  straight  from  Petersen  Sahib's  camp ;  and 
Little  Toomai  saw  another  elephant,  one  that  he 
did  not  know,  with  deep  rope-galls  on  his  back 
and  breast.  He,  too,  must  have  run  away  from 
some  camp  in  the  hills  about. 

At  last  there  was  no  sound  of  any  more  ele- 
phants moving  in  the  forest,  and  Kala  Nag  rolled 
out  from  his  station  between  the  trees  and  went 


250  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK. 

into  the  middle  of  the  crowd,  clucking  and  gurg- 
ling, and  all  the  elephants  began  to  talk  in  their 
own  tongue,  and  to  move  about. 

Still  lying  down,  Little  Toomai  looked  down 
upon  scores  and  scores  of  broad  backs,  and  wag- 
ging ears,  and  tossing  trunks,  and  little  rolling 
eyes.  He  heard  the  click  of  tusks  as  they 
crossed  other  tusks  by  accident,  and  the  dry 
rustle  of  trunks  twined  together,  and  the  chafing 
of  enormous  sides  and  shoulders  in  the  crowd, 
and  the  incessant  flick  and  hissh  of  the  great 
tails.  Then  a  cloud  came  over  the  moon,  and  he 
sat  in  black  darkness ;  but  the  quiet,  steady  hust- 
ling and  pushing  and  gurgling  went  on  just  the 
same.  He  knew  that  there  were  elephants  all 
round  Kala  Nag,  and  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  backing  him  out  of  the  assembly;  so  he  set  his 
teeth  and  shivered.  In  a  Keddah  at  least  there 
was  torch -lisfht  and  shouting",  but  here  he  was  all 
alone  in  the  dark,  and  once  a  trunk  came  up 
and  touched  him  on  the  knee. 

Then  an  elephant  trumpeted,  and  they  all  took 
it  up  for  five  or  ten  terrible  seconds.  The  dew 
from  the  trees  above  spattered  down  like  rain 
on  the  unseen  backs,  and  a  dull  booming  noise 
6egan,  not  very  loud  at  first,  and  Little  Toomai 
could  not  tell  what  it  was;  but  it  grew  and  grew, 
and  Kala  Nag  lifted  up  one  fore  foot  and  then 


:  LITTLE    TOOMAI     LOOKED    DOWN     UPON     SCORES    AND    SCORES 
OF    BROAD    BACKS." 


TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  253 

the  other,  and  brought  them  down  on  the  ground 
— one-two,  one-two,  as  steadily  as  trip-hammers. 
The  elephants  were  stamping  altogether  now, 
and  it  sounded  like  a  war-drum  beaten  at  the 
mouth  of  a  cave.  The  dew  fell  from  the  trees  till 
there  was  no  more  left  to  fall,  and  the  booming 
went  on,  and  the  ground  rocked  and  shivered,  and 
Little  Toomai  put  his  hands  up  to  his  ears  to  shut 
out  the  sound.  But  it  was  all  one  gigantic  jar 
that  ran  through  him- — this  stamp  of  hundreds 
of  heavy  feet  on  the  raw  earth.  Once  or  twice 
he  could  feel  Kala  Nag  and  all  the  others  surge 
forward  a  few  strides,  and  the  thumping  would 
change  to  the  crushing  sound  of  juicy  green 
things  being  bruised,  but  in  a  minute  or  two  the 
boom  of  feet  on  hard  earth  beg^an  aeain.  A 
tree  was  creaking  and  groaning  somewhere  near 
him.  He  put  out  his  arm  and  felt  the  bark,  but 
Kala  Nag  moved  forward,  still  tramping,  and  he 
could  not  tell  where  he  was  in  the  clearing. 
There  was  no  sound  from  the  elephants,  except 
once,  when  two  or  three  little  calves  squeaked  to- 
gether. Then  he  heard  a  thump  and  a  shuffle, 
and  the  booming  went  on.  It  must  have  lasted 
fully  two  hours,  and  Little  Toomai  ached  in  every 
nerve  ;  but  he  knew  by  the  smell  of  the  night  air 
that  the  dawn  was  coming. 


254  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

The  morning  broke  in  one  sheet  of  pale  yellow 
behind  the  green  hills,  and  the  booming  stopped 
with  the  first  ray,  as  though  the  light  had  been  an 
order.  Before  Little  Toomai  had  got  the  ringing 
out  of  his  head,  before  even  he  had  shifted  his 
position,  there  was  not  an  elephant  in  sight  ex- 
cept Kala  Nag,  Pudmini,  and  the  elephant  with 
the  rope-galls,  and  there  was  neither  sign  nor 
rustle  nor  whisper  down  the  hillsides  to  show 
where  the  others   had  gone. 

Little  Toomai  stared  again  and  again.  The 
clearing,  as  he  remembered  it,  had  grown  in  the 
night.  More  trees  stood  in  the  middle  of  it,  but 
the  undergrowth  and  the  jungle-grass  at  the  sides 
had  been  rolled  back.  Little  Toomai  stared  once 
more.  Now  he  understood  the  trampling.  The 
elephants  had  stamped  out  more  room  —  had 
stamped  the  thick  grass  and  juicy  cane  to  trash, 
the  trash  into  slivers,  the  slivers  into  tiny  fibers, 
and  the  fibers  into  hard  earth. 

"  Wah  !  "  said  Little  Toomai,  and  his  eyes  were 
very  heavy.  "  Kala  Nag,  my  lord,  let  us  keep  by 
Pudmini  and  go  to  Petersen  Sahib's  camp,  or  I 
shall  drop  from  thy  neck." 

The  third  elephant  watched  the  two  go  away, 
snorted,  wheeled  round,  and  took  his  own  path. 
He    may    have    belonged    to    some    little   native 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  255 

king's  establishment,  fifty  or  sixty  or  a  hundred 
miles  away. 

Two  hours  later,  as  Petersen  Sahib  was  eat- 
ing- early  breakfast,  his  elephants,  who  had  been 
double-chained  that  night,  began  to  trumpet,  and 
Pudmini,  mired  to  the  shoulders,  with  Kala  Nag, 
very  foot-sore,  shambled  into  the  camp. 

Little  Toomai's  face  was  gray  and  pinched,  and 
his  hair  was  full  of  leaves  and  drenched  with 
dew;  but  he  tried  to  salute  Petersen  Sahib,  and 
cried  faintly  :  "The  dance — the  elephant-dance! 
I  have  seen  it,  and  —  I  die!"  As  Kala  Nag 
sat  down,  he  slid  off  his  neck  in  a  dead  faint. 

But,  since  native  children  have  no  nerves  worth 
speaking  of,  in  two  hours  he  was  lying  very  con- 
tentedly in  Petersen  Sahib's  hammock  with  Peter- 
sen Sahib's  shooting-coat  under  his  head,  and  a 
glass  of  warm  milk,  a  little  brandy,  with  a  dash  of 
quinine  inside  of  him,  and  while  the  old  hairy, 
scarred  hunters  of  the  jungles  sat  three-deep  be- 
fore him,  looking  at  him  as  though  he  were  a 
spirit,  he  told  his  tale  in  short  words,  as  a  child 
will,  and  wound  up  with : 

"  Now,  if  I  lie  in  one  word,  send  men  to  see, 
and  they  will  find  that  the  elephant-folk  have 
trampled  down  more  room  in  their  dance-room, 
and  they  will  find  ten  and  ten,  and  many  times 


256  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

ten,  tracks  leading  to  that  dance-room.  They 
made  more  room  with  their  feet.  I  have  seen  it. 
Kala  Nag  took  me,  and  I  saw.  Also  Kala  Nag 
is  very  leg-weary  !  " 

Little  Toomai  lay  back  and  slept  all  through  the 
long  afternoon  and  into  the  twilight,  and  while  he 
slept  Petersen  Sahib  and  Machua  Appa  followed 
the  track  of  the  two  elephants  for  fifteen  miles 
across  the  hills.  Petersen  Sahib  had  spent  eigh- 
teen years  in  catching  elephants,  and  he  had  only 
once  before  found  such  a  dance-place.  Machua 
Appa  had  no  need  to  look  twice  at  the  clearing 
to  see  what  had  been  done  there,  or  to  scratch 
with  his  toe  in  the  packed,  rammed  earth. 

"The  child  speaks  truth,"  said  he.  "All  this 
was  done  last  night,  and  I  have  counted  seventy 
tracks  crossing  the  river.  See,  Sahib,  where 
Pudmini's  leg-iron  cut  the  bark  of  that  tree ! 
Yes  ;   she  was  there  too." 

They  looked  at  each  other,  and  up  and  down, 
and  they  wondered ;  for  the  ways  of  elephants 
are  beyond  the  wit  of  any  man,  black  or  white,  to 
fathom. 

"  Forty  years  and  five,"  said  Machua  Appa, 
"  have  I  followed  my  lord,  the  elephant,  but  never 
have  I  heard  that  any  child  of  man  had  seen 
what    this    child    has    seen.      By    all    the    Gods 


TOOMAI    OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  257 

of  the  Hills,  it  is  —  what  can  we  say?"  and  he 
shook  his  head. 

When  they  got  back  to  camp  it  was  time  for  the 
evening  meal.  Petersen  Sahib  ate  alone  in  his 
tent,  but  he  gave  orders  that  the  camp  should 
have  two  sheep  and  some  fowls,  as  well  as  a 
double-ration  of  flour  and  rice  and  salt,  for  he 
knew  that  there  would  be  a  feast. 

Big  Toomai  had  come  up  hot-foot  from  the 
camp  in  the  plains  to  search  for  his  son  and  his 
elephant,  and  now  that  he  had  found  them  he 
looked  at  them  as  though  he  were  afraid  of  them 
both.  And  there  was  a  feast  by  the  blazing  camp- 
fires  in  front  of  the  lines  of  picketed  elephants, 
and  Little  Toomai  was  the  hero  of  it  all;  and 
the  big  brown  elephant-catchers,  the  trackers  and 
drivers  and  ropers,  and  the  men  who  know  all  the 
secrets  of  breaking  the  wildest  elephants,  passed 
him  from  one  to  the  other,  and  they  marked 
his  forehead  with  blood  from  the  breast  of  a 
newly  killed  jungle-cock,  to  show  that  he  was  a 
forester,  initiated  and  free  of  all  the  jungles. 

And  at  last,  when  the  flames  died  down,  and 
the  red  light  of  the  logs  made  the  elephants  look 
as  though  they  had  been  dipped  in  blood  too, 
Machua  Appa,  the  head  of  all  the  drivers  of  all 
the  Keddahs  —  Machua  Appa,  Petersen  Sahib's 


25$  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

other  self,  who  had  never  seen  a  made  road  in 
forty  years :  Machua  Appa,  who  was  so  great 
that  he  had  no  other  name  than  Machua  Appa 
—  leaped  to  his  feet,  with  Little  Toomai  held 
high  in  the  air  above  his  head,  and  shouted : 
"  Listen,  my  brothers.  Listen,  too,  you  my  lords 
in  the  lines  there,  for  I,  Machua  Appa,  am  speak- 
ing- !  This  little  one  shall  no  more  be  called 
Little  Toomai,  but  Toomai  of  the  Elephants, 
as  his  great-grandfather  was  called  before  him. 
What  never  man  has  seen  he  has  seen  through 
the  long  night,  and  the  favor  of  the  elephant- folk 
and  of  the  Gods  of  the  Jungles  is  with  him.  He 
shall  become  a  great  tracker ;  he  shall  become 
greater  than  I,  even  I,  Machua  Appa !  He  shall 
follow  the  new  trail,  and  the  stale  trail,  and  the 
mixed  trail,  with  a  clear  eye !  He  shall  take  no 
harm  in  the  Keddah  when  he  runs  under  their 
bellies  to  rope  the  wild  tuskers ;  and  if  he  slips 
before  the  feet  of  the  charging  bull-elephant  that 
bull-elephant  shall  know  who  he  is  and  shall  not 
crush  him.  Aihai /  my  lords  in  the  chains," — 
he  whirled  up  the  line  of  pickets, —  "here  is  the 
little  one  that  has  seen  your  dances  in  your  hid- 
den places — the  sight  that  never  man  saw  !  Give 
him  honor,  my  lords !  Salaam  karo,  my  children. 
Make  your  salute  to  Toomai  of  the  Elephants ! 


TOOMAI   OF   THE   ELEPHANTS  261 

Gunga  Pershad,  ahaa!  Hira  Guj,  Birchi  Guj, 
Kuttar  Guj,  ahaa!  Pudmini, —  thou  hast  seen 
him  at  the  dance,  and  thou  too,  Kala  Nag,  my 
pearl  among  elephants  ! — ahaa!  Together!  To 
Toomai  of  the  Elephants.     Barrao!" 

And  at  that  last  wild  yell  the  whole  line  flung 
up  their  trunks  till  the  tips  touched  their  fore- 
heads, and  broke  out  into  the  full  salute  —  the 
crashing  trumpet-peal  that  only  the  Viceroy  of 
India  hears,  the  Salaamut  of  the  Keddah. 

But  it  was  all  for  the  sake  of  Little  Toomai, 
who  had  seen  what  never  man  had  seen  before  — 
the  dance  of  the  elephants  at  night  and  alone  in 
the  heart  of  the  Garo  hills ! 


SHIV  AND    THE    GRASSHOPPER 
(the  song  that  toomai's  mother  sang  to 

THE   BABY) 

Shiv,  who  poured  the  harvest  and  made  the  winds  to  blow, 
Sitting  at  the  doorways  of  a  day  of  long  ago, 
Gave  to  each  his  portion,  food  and  toil  and  fate, 
From  the  King  upon  the  guddee  to  the  Beggar  at  the  gate. 
All  things  made  he —  Shiva  the  Preserver. 
Mahadeo  /  Mahadeo  !  he  made  all, — 
Thorn  for  the  camel,  fodder  for  the  kine, 
And mother 's  heart  for  sleepy  head,  O  little  son  of  mine! 


262  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

Wheat  he  gave  to  rich  folk,  millet  to  the  poor, 
Broken  scraps  for  holy  men  that  beg  from  door  to  door ; 
Cattle  to  the  tiger,  carrion  to  the  kite, 
And  rags  and  bones  to  wicked  wolves  without  the  wall 

at  night. 
Naught  he  found  too  lofty,  none  he  saw  too  low  — 
Parbati  beside  him  watched  them  come  and  go  ; 
Thought  to  cheat  her  husband,  turning  Shiv  to  jest  — 
Stole  the  little  grasshopper  and  hid  it  in  her  breast. 

So  she  tricked  him,  Shiva  the  Preserver. 

Mahadco  !  Mahadco  !  turn  and  see. 

Tall  are  the  camels,  heavy  are  the  kinc, 

But  this  was  least  of  little  things,  O  little  son  of  mine  ! 

When  the  dole  was  ended,  laughingly  she  said, 
"  Master,  of  a  million  mouths  is  not  one  unfed  ?  " 
Laughing,  Shiv  made  answer,  "All  have  had  their  part, 
Even  he,  the  little  one,  hidden  'neath  thy  heart." 
From  her  breast  she  plucked  it,  Parbati  the  thief, 
Saw  the  Least  of  Little  Things  gnawed  a  new-grown  leaf! 
Saw  and  feared  and  wondered,  making  prayer  to  Shiv, 
Who  hath  surely  given  meat  to  all  that  live. 
All  things  made  he —  Shiva  the  Preserver. 
Mahadeo  !  Mahadeo  /  he  made  all, — 
Thorn  for  the  camel,  fodder  for  the  kine, 
And  mother's  heart  for  sleepy  head,  O  little  son  of  mine  ! 


HER   MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS 


You  can  work  it  out  by  Fractions  or  by  simple  Rule  of  Three 
But  the  way  of  Tweedle-dum  is  not  the  way  of  Tweedle-dee. 
You  can  twist  it,  you  can  turn  it,  you  can  plait  it  till  you  drop 
But  the  way  of  Pilly-Winky  's  not  the  way  of  Winkie-Pop  ! 


W\\\-TV\  '%  \  v...\ :",  \  -IV1?,  ^  --i^v'ST' 


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HER   MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS 


IT  had  been  raining  heavily  for  one  whole  month 
—  raining  on  a  camp  of  thirty  thousand  men, 
thousands  of  camels,  elephants,  horses,  bullocks, 
and  mules,  all  gathered  together  at  a  place  called 
Rawal  Pindi,  to  be  reviewed  by  the  Viceroy  of 
India.  He  was  receiving  a  visit  from  the  Amir 
of  Afghanistan — a  wild  king  of  a  very  wild  coun- 
try ;  and  the  Amir  had  brought  with  him  for  a 
bodyguard  eight  hundred  men  and  horses  who 
had  never  seen  a  camp  or  a  locomotive  before  in 
their  lives  —  savage  men  and  savage  horses  from 
somewhere  at  the  back  of  Central  Asia.  Every 
night  a  mob  of  these  horses  would  be  sure  to 
break    their   heel-ropes,    and    stampede    up    and 

down  the  camp  through  the  mud  in  the  dark,  or 

265 


266  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  camels  would  break  loose  and  run  about 
and  fall  over  the  ropes  of  the  tents,  and  you 
can  imagine  how  pleasant  that  was  for  men 
trying  to  go  to  sleep.  My  tent  lay  far  away 
from  the  camel  lines,  and  I  thought  it  was  safe , 
but  one  night  a  man  popped  his  head  in  and 
shouted,  "  Get  out,  quick !  They  're  coming ! 
My  tent  's  gone  !" 

I  knew  who  "they"  were;  so  I  put  on  my 
boots  and  waterproof  and  scuttled  out  into  the 
slush.  Little  Vixen,  my  fox-terrier,  went  out 
through  the  other  side  ;  and  then  there  was  a 
roaring  and  a  grunting  and  bubbling,  and  I  saw 
the  tent  cave  in,  as  the  pole  snapped,  and  begin 
to  dance  about  like  a  mad  ghost.  A  camel  had 
blundered  into  it,  and  wet  and  angry  as  I  was,  I 
could  not  help  laughing.  Then  I  ran  on,  because 
I  did  not  know  how  many  camels  might  have  got 
loose,  and  before  long  I  was  out  of  sight  of  the 
camp,  plowing  my  way  through  the  mud. 

At  last  I  fell  over  the  tail-end  of  a  gun,  and  by 
that  knew  I  was  somewhere  near  the  Artillery 
lines  where  the  cannon  were  stacked  at  night.  As 
I  did  not  want  to  plowter  about  any  more  in  the 
drizzle  and  the  dark,  I  put  my  waterproof  over 
the  muzzle  of  one  gun,  and  made  a  sort  of  wig- 
wam with  two  or  three  rammers  that  I  found,  and 


HER    MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS  269 

lay  along  the  tail  of  another  gun,  wondering  where 
Vixen  had  got  to,  and  where  I  might  be. 

Just  as  I  was  getting  ready  to  sleep  I  heard  a 
jingle  of  harness  and  a  grunt,  and  a  mule  passed 
me  shaking  his  wet  ears.  He  belonged  to  a 
screw-gun  battery,  for  I  could  hear  the  rattle 
of  the  straps  and  rings  and  chains  and  things  on 
his  saddle-pad.  The  screw-guns  are  tidy  little 
cannon  made  in  two  pieces,  that  are  screwed  to- 
gether when  the  time  comes  to  use  them.  They 
are  taken  up  mountains,  anywhere  that  a  mule 
can  find  a  road,  and  they  are  very  useful  for 
fighting  in  rocky  country. 

Behind  the  mule  there  was  a  camel,  with  his 
big  soft  feet  squelching  and  slipping  in  the  mud, 
and  his  neck  bobbing  to  and  fro  like  a  strayed 
hen's.  Luckily,  I  knew  enough  of  beast  language 
—  not  wild-beast  language,  but  camp-beast  lan- 
guage, of  course  —  from  the  natives  to  know  what 
he  was  saying. 

He  must  have  been  the  one  that  flopped  into 
my  tent,  for  he  called  to  the  mule,  "  What  shall  I 
do  ?  Where  shall  I  go  ?  I  have  fought  with  a 
white  thing  that  waved,  and  it  took  a  stick  and 
hit  me  on  the  neck."  (That  was  my  broken  tent- 
pole,  and  I  was  very  glad  to  know  it.)  "  Shall 
we  run  on  ?  " 


279  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

"Oh,  it  was  you,"  said  the  mule,  "you  and 
your  friends,  that  have  been  disturbing  the  camp  ? 
All  right.  You  '11  be  beaten  for  this  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  but  I  may  as  well  give  you  something  on 
account  now." 

I  heard  the  harness  jingle  as  the  mule  backed 
and  caught  the  camel  two  kicks  in  the  ribs  that 
rang  like  a  drum.  "Another  time,"  he  saidf 
"  you  '11  know  better  than  to  run  through  a  mule- 
battery  at  night,  shouting  '  Thieves  and  fire ! ' 
Sit  down,  and  keep  your  silly  neck  quiet." 

The  camel  doubled  up  camel-fashion,  like  a 
two-foot  rule,  and  sat  down  whimpering.  There 
was  a  regular  beat  of  hoofs  in  the  darkness,  and 
a  big  troop-horse  cantered  up  as  steadily  as 
though  he  were  on  parade,  jumped  a  gun-tail, 
and  landed  close  to  the  mule. 

"  It 's  disgraceful,"  he  said,  blowing  out  his  nos- 
trils. "  Those  camels  have  racketed  through  our 
lines  again  —  the  third  time  this  week.  How  's  a 
horse  to  keep  his  condition  if  he  is  n't  allowed  to 
sleep  ?     Who  's  here  ?  " 

"  I  'm  the  breech-piece  mule  of  number  two 
gun  of  the  First  Screw  Battery,"  said  the  mule, 
"  and  the  other  's  one  of  your  friends.  He  's 
waked  me  up  too.     Who  are  you?" 

"  Number  Fifteen,  E  troop,  Ninth  Lancers — - 


HER   MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS  271 

Dick    Cunliffe's    horse.       Stand    over    a    little, 
there." 

"  Oh,  beg  your  pardon,"  said  the  mule.  "  It 's 
too  dark  to  see  much.  Are  n't  these  camels  too 
sickening  for  anything?  I  walked  out  of  my 
lines  to  get  a  little  peace  and  quiet  here." 

"My  lords,"  said  the  camel  humbly,  "we 
dreamed  bad  dreams  in  the  night,  and  we  were 
very  much  afraid.  I  am  only  a  baggage-camel 
of  the  39th  Native  Infantry,  and  I  am  not  so 
brave  as  you  are,  my  lords." 

"Then  why  the  pickets  did  n't  you  stay  and 
carry  baggage  for  the  39th  Native  Infantry,  in- 
stead of  running  all  round  the  camp  ?  "  said  the 
mule. 

"They  were  such  very  bad  dreams,"  said  the 
camel.  "I  am  sorry.  Listen!  What  is  that? 
Shall  we  run  on  again  ? " 

"Sit  down,"  said  the  mule,  "or  you  '11  snap 
your  long  legs  between  the  guns."  He  cocked 
one  ear  and  listened.  "  Bullocks  !  "  he  said  ; 
"gun-bullocks.  On  my  word,  you  and  your 
friends  have  waked  the  camp  very  thoroughly. 
It  takes  a  good  deal  ot  prodding  to  put  up  a 
gun-bullock." 

I  heard  a  chain  dragging  along  the  ground,  and 
a  yoke  of  the  great  sulky  white  bullocks  that  drag 


2^2  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  heavy  siege-guns  when  the  elephants  won't  go 
any  nearer  to  the  firing,  came  shouldering  along 
together ;  and  almost  stepping  on  the  chain  was 
another  battery-mule,  calling  wildly  for  "  Billy." 

"  That 's  one  of  our  recruits,"  said  the  old  mule 
to  the  troop-horse.  "  He  's  calling  for  me.  Here, 
youngster,  stop  squealing;  the  dark  never  hurt 
anybody  yet." 

The  gun-bullocks  lay  down  together  and  be- 
gan chewing  the  cud,  but  the  young  mule  hud- 
dled close  to  Billy. 

"Things!"  he  said;  "fearful  and  horrible 
things,  Billy !  They  came  into  our  lines  while 
we  were  asleep.     D'  you  think  they  '11  kill  us  ?  " 

"I  've  a  very  great  mind  to  give  you  a  number 
one  kicking,"  said  Billy.  "The  idea  of  a  four- 
teen-hand  mule  with  your  training  disgracing 
the  battery  before  this  gentleman ! " 

"  Gently,  gently!"  said  the  troop-horse.  "  Re- 
member they  are  always  like  this  to  begin  with. 
The  first  time  I  ever  saw  a  man  (it  was  in  Aus- 
tralia when  I  was  a  three-year-old)  I  ran  for 
half  a  day,  and  if  I  'd  seen  a  camel  I  should  have 
been  running  still." 

Nearly  all  our  horses  for  the  English  cav- 
alry are  brought  to  India  from  Australia,  and 
are  broken  in  by  the  troopers  themselves. 


HER  MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  273 

"  True  enough,"  said  Billy.  "  Stop  shaking, 
youngster.  The  first  time  they  put  the  full 
harness  with  all  its  chains  on  my  back,  I  stood 
on  my  fore  legs  and  kicked  every  bit  of  it  off. 
I  had  n't  learned  the  real  science  of  kicking  then, 
but  the  battery  said  they  had  never  seen  any- 
thing like  it." 

"  But  this  was  n't  harness  or  anything  that 
jingled,"  said  the  young  mule.  "  You  know  I 
don't  mind  that  now,  Billy.  It  was  Things  like 
trees,  and  they  fell  up  and  down  the  lines  and 
bubbled ;  and  my  head-rope  broke,  and  I  could 
n't  find  my  driver,  and  I  could  n't  find  you,  Billy, 
so  I  ran  off  with  —  with  these  gentlemen." 

"  H'm  ! "  said  Billy.  "As  soon  as  I  heard  the 
camels  were  loose  I  came  away  on  my  own  ac- 
count, quietly.  When  a  battery  —  a  screw-gun 
mule  calls  gun-bullocks  gentlemen,  he  must  be 
very  badly  shaken  up.  Who  are  you  fellows  on 
the  ground  there  ? " 

The  gun-bullocks  rolled  their  cuds,  and  an- 
swered both  together :  "  The  seventh  yoke  of  the 
first  gun  of  the  Big  Gun  Battery.  We  were 
asleep  when  the  camels  came,  but  when  we  were 
trampled  on  we  got  up  and  walked  away.  It  is 
better  to  lie  quiet  in  the  mud  than  to  be  dis- 
turbed on  good  bedding.     We  told  your  friend 


274  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

here  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  afraid  of,  but  he 
knew  so  much  that  he  thought  otherwise.    Wah!" 

They  went  on  chewing. 

"  That  comes  of  being  afraid,"  said  Billy. 
"  You  get  laughed  at  by  gun-bullocks.  I  hope 
you  like  it,  young  un." 

The  young  mule's  teeth  snapped,  and  I  heard 
him  say  something  about  not  being  afraid  of 
any  beefy  old  bullock  in  the  world ;  but  the  bul- 
locks only  clicked  their  horns  together  and  went 
on  chewing. 

"  Now,  don't  be  angry  after  you  've  been 
afraid.  That's  the  worst  kind  of  cowardice,"  said 
the  troop-horse.  "Anybody  can  be  forgiven  for 
being  scared  in  the  night,  /  think,  if  they  see 
things  they  don't  understand.  We  've  broken 
out  of  our  pickets,  again  and  again,  four  hundred 
and  fifty  of  us,  just  because  a  new  recruit  got  to 
telling  tales  of  whip-snakes  at  home  in  Australia 
till  we  were  scared  to  death  of  the  loose  ends  of 
our  head-ropes." 

"That's  all  very  well  in  camp,"  said  Billy; 
"  I  'm  not  above  stampeding  myself,  for  the  fun 
of  the  thing,  when  I  have  n't  been  out  for  a  day 
or  two ;  but  what  do  you  do  on  active  service  ?  " 

"  Oh,  that  's  quite  another  set  of  new  shoes," 
said  the  troop-horse.     "  Dick  Cunliffe  's  on  my 


HER   MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS  277 

back  then,  and  drives  his  knees  into  me,  and  all 
I  have  to  do  is  to  watch  where  I  am  putting  my 
feet,  and  to  keep  my  hind  legs  well  under  me,  and 
be  bridle-wise." 

"  What  's  bridle- wise  ?  "  said  the  young  mule. 

"  By  the  Blue  Gums  of  the  Back  Blocks," 
snorted  the  troop-horse,  "  do  you  mean  to  say 
that  you  are  n't  taught  to  be  bridle-wise  in  your 
business  ?  How  can  you  do  anything,  unless  you 
can  spin  round  at  once  when  the  rein  is  pressed 
on  your  neck?  It  means  life  or  death  to  your 
man,  and  of  course  that  's  life  or  death  to  you. 
Get  round  with  your  hind  legs  under  you  the  in- 
stant you  feel  the  rein  on  your  neck.  If  you 
have  n't  room  to  swing  round,  rear  up  a  little  and 
come  round  on  your  hind  legs.  That  's  being 
bridle-wise." 

"  We  are  n't  taught  that  way,"  said  Billy  the 
mule  stiffly.  "We  're  taught  to  obey  the  man 
at  our  head :  step  off  when  he  says  so,  and  step 
in  when  he  says  so.  I  suppose  it  comes  to  the 
same  thing.  Now,  with  all  this  fine  fancy  busi- 
ness and  rearing,  which  must  be  very  bad  for 
your  hocks,  what  do  you  do?" 

"  That  depends,"  said  the  troop-horse.  "  Gen- 
erally I  have  to  go  in  among  a  lot  of  yelling,  hairy 
men  with  knives, — long  shiny  knives,  worse  than 


278  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

the  farrier's  knives,— and  I  have  to  take  care  that 
Dick's  boot  is  just  touching  the  next  man's  boot 
without  crushing  it.  I  can  see  Dick's  lance  to  the 
right  of  my  right  eye,  and  I  know  I  'm  safe.  I 
should  n't  care  to  be  the  man  or  horse  that  stood 
up  to  Dick  and  me  when  we  're  in  a  hurry." 

"Don't  the  knives  hurt?"  said  the  young 
mule. 

"Well,  I  got  one  cut  across  the  chest  once, 
but  that  was  n't  Dick's  fault — " 

"A  lot  I  should  have  cared  whose  fault  it  was, 
If  it  hurt ! "  said  the  young  mule. 

"You  must,"  said  the  troop-horse.  "If  you 
don't  trust  your  man,  you  may  as  well  run  away 
at  once.  That  's  what  some  of  our  horses  do, 
and  I  don't  blame  them.  As  I  was  saying,  it 
was  n't  Dick's  fault.  The  man  was  lying  on  the 
ground,  and  I  stretched  myself  not  to  tread  on 
him,  and  he  slashed  up  at  me.  Next  time  I 
have  to  go  over  a  man  lying  down  I  shall  step 
on  him — hard." 

"  H'm  !  "  said  Billy;  "it  sounds  very  foolish. 
Knives  are  dirty  things  at  any  time.  The 
proper  thing  to  do  is  to  climb  up  a  mountain 
with  a  well-balanced  saddle,  hang  on  by  all  four 
feet  and  your  ears  too,  and  creep  and  crawl  and 
wriggle  along,  till  you  come  out  hundreds  of  feet 


" '  THE    MAN     WAS    LYING    ON    THE    GROUND,   AND    I    STRETCHED 
MYSELF    NOT  TO    TREAD    ON    HIM,  AND    HE    SLASHED   UP    AT    ME.'  : 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  281 

above  any  one  else,  on  a  ledge  where  there  's 
just  room  enough  for  your  hoofs.  Then  you 
stand  still  and  keep  quiet, — never  ask  a  man  to 
hold  your  head,  young  'un, — keep  quiet  while  the 
guns  are  being  put  together,  and  then  you  watch 
the  little  poppy  shells  drop  down  into  the  tree- 
tops  ever  so  far  below." 

"  Don't  you  ever  trip  ?  "  said  the  troop-horse. 

"  They  say  that  when  a  mule  trips  you  can 
split  a  hen's  ear,"  said  Billy.  "  Now  and  again 
per-haps  a  badly  packed  saddle  will  upset  a 
mule,  but  it  's  very  seldom.  I  wish  I  could  show 
you  our  business.  It  's  beautiful.  Why,  it  took 
me  three  years  to  find  out  what  the  men  were 
driving  at.  The  science  of  the  thing  is  never  to 
show  up  against  the  sky-line,  because,  if  you  do, 
you  may  get  fired  at.  Remember  that,  young 
'un.  Always  keep  hidden  as  much  as  possible, 
even  if  you  have  to  go  a  mile  out  of  your  way. 
I  lead  the  battery  when  it  comes  to  that  sort  of 
climbing." 

"  Fired  at  without  the  chance  of  running  into 
the  people  who  are  firing !  "  said  the  troop-horse, 
thinking  hard.  "  I  could  n't  stand  that.  I  should 
want  to  charge,  with  Dick." 

"  Oh  no,  you  would  n't ;  you  know  that  as 
soon  as  the  guns  are  in  position  they  '11  do  all 


282  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

V. 

the  charging.  That  's  scientific  and  neat ;  but 
knives  —  pah  !  " 

The  baggage-camel  had  been  bobbing  his 
head  to  and  fro  for  some  time  past,  anxious  to 
get  a  word  in  edgeways.  Then  I  heard  him 
say,   as  he  cleared  his  throat,   nervously : 

"I  — I  — I  have  fought  a  little,  but  not  in  that 
climbing  way  or  that  running  way." 

"No.  Now  you  mention  it,"  said  Billy,  "you 
don't  look  as  though  you  were  made  for  climb- 
ing or  running  —  much.  Well,  how  was  it,  old 
Hay-bales?  " 

"The  proper  way,"  said  the  camel.  "We  all 
sat  down  - —  " 

"  Oh,  my  crupper  and  breastplate  !  "  said  the 
troop-horse  under  his  breath.      "  Sat  down  ?  " 

"  We  sat  down  —  a  hundred  of  us,"  the  camel 
went  on,  "  in  a  big  square,  and  the  men  piled  our 
packs  and  saddles  outside  the  square,  and  they 
fired  over  our  backs,  the  men  did,  on  all  sides  of 
the  square." 

"  What  sort  of  men  ?  Any  men  that  came 
along  ?  "  said  the  troop-horse.  "  They  teach  us  in 
riding-school  to  lie  down  and  let  our  masters  fire 
across  us,  but  Dick  Cunliffe  is  the  only  man  I  'd 
trust  to  do  that.  It  tickles  my  girths,  and,  be- 
sides, I  can't  see  with  my  head  on  the  ground." 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  283 

"  What  does  it  matter  who  fires  across  you  ? " 
said  the  camel.  "There  are  plenty  of  men  and 
plenty  of  other  camels  close  by,  and  a  great 
many  clouds  of  smoke.  I  am  not  frightened 
then,     I  sit  still  and  wait." 

"  And  yet,"  said  Billy,  "  you  dream  bad  dreams 
and  upset  the  camp  at  night.  Well !  well !  Be- 
fore I  'd  lie  down,  not  to  speak  of  sitting  down, 
and  let  a  man  fire  across  me,  my  heels  and  his 
head  would  have  something  to  say  to  each  other. 
Did  you  ever  hear  anything  so  awful  as  that?" 

There  was  a  long  silence,  and  then  one  of  the 
gun-bullocks  lifted  up  his  big  head  and  said, 
"  This  is  very  foolish  indeed.  There  is  only  one 
way  of  fighting." 

"Oh,  go  on,"  said  Billy.  "Please  don't  mind 
me.  I  suppose  you  fellows  fight  standing  on 
your  tails  ?  " 

"  Only  one  way,"  said  the  two  together.  (They 
must  have  been  twins.)  "This  is  that  way.  To 
put  all  twenty  yoke  of  us  to  the  big  gun  as  soon 
as  Two  Tails  trumpets."  ("Two  Tails"  is  camp 
slang  for  the  elephant.) 

"What  does  Two  Tails  trumpet  for?  "  said  the 
young  mule. 

"  To  show  that  he  is  not  going  any  nearer  to 
the  smoke  on  the  other  side.     Two  Tails  is  a 


284  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

great  coward.  Then  we  tug  the  big  gun  all  to- 
gether —  Heya  —  Hullah  !  Heeyah  /  Hullah  f 
We  do  not  climb  like  cats  nor  run  like  calves. 
We  go  across  the  level  plain,  twenty  yoke  of  us, 
till  we  are  unyoked  again,  and  we  graze  while 
the  big  guns  talk  across  the  plain  to  some  town 
with  mud  walls,  and  pieces  of  the  wall  fall  out, 
and  the  dust  goes  up  as  though  many  cattle  were 
comingf  home." 

"  Oh !  And  you  choose  that  time  for  graz- 
ing do  you  ?  "   said  the  young  mule. 

"That  time  or  any  other.  Eating  is  always 
good.  We  eat  till  we  are  yoked  up  again  and 
tug  the  gun  back  to  where  Two  Tails  is  waiting 
for  it.  Sometimes  there  are  big  guns  in  the  city 
that  speak  back,  and  some  of  us  are  killed,  and 
then  there  is  all  the  more  grazing  for  those  that 
are  left.  This  is  Fate — nothing  but  Fate.  None 
the  less,  Two  Tails  is  a  great  coward.  That  is 
the  proper  way  to  fight.  We  are  brothers  from 
Hapur.  Our  father  was  a  sacred  bull  of  Shiva. 
We  have  spoken." 

"Well,  I  've  certainly  learned  something  to- 
night," said  the  troop-horse.  "  Do  you  gentle- 
men of  the  screw-gun  battery  feel  inclined  to  eat 
when  you  are  being  fired  at  with  big  guns,  and 
Two  Tails  is  behind  you  ? " 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  285 

"About  as  much  as  we  feel  inclined  to  sit 
down  and  let  men  sprawl  all  over  us,  or  run  into 
people  with  knives.  I  never  heard  such  stuff. 
A  mountain  ledge,  a  well-balanced  load,  a  driver 
you  can  trust  to  let  you  pick  your  own  way,  and 
I  'm  your  mule;  but  the  other  things  — no!" 
said  Billy,   with  a  stamp  of  his  foot. 

"Of  course,"  said  the  troop-horse,  "every  one 
is  not  made  in  the  same  way,  and  I  can  quite  see 
that  your  family,  on  your  father's  side,  would  fail 
to  understand  a  great  many  things." 

"  Never  you  mind  my  family  on  my  father's 
side,"  said  Billy  angrily ;  for  every  mule  hates  to 
be  reminded  that  his  father  was  a  donkey.  "  My 
father  was  a  Southern  gentleman,  and  he  could 
pull  down  and  bite  and  kick  into  rags  every  horse 
he  came  across.  Remember  that,  you  big  brown 
Brumby  ! " 

Brumby  means  wild  horse  without  any  breed- 
ing. Imagine  the  feelings  of  Sunol  if  a  car- 
horse  called  her  a  "skate,"  and  you  can  imagine 
how  the  Australian  horse  felt.  I  saw  the  white 
of  his  eye  glitter  in  the  dark. 

"  See  here,  you  son  of  an  imported  Malaga 
jackass,"  he  said  between  his  teeth,  "  I  fd  have 
you  know  that  I  'm  related  on  my  mother's  side 
to  Carbine,  winner  of  the  Melbourne  Cup,  and 


286  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

where  /  come  from  we  are  n't  accustomed  to 
being"  ridden  over  roughshod  by  any  parrot- 
mouthed,  pig-headed  mule  in  a  pop-gun  pea- 
shooter battery.     Are  you  ready  ?  " 

"  On  your  hind  legs  !  "  squealed  Billy.  They 
both  reared  up  facing  each  other,  and  I  was  ex- 
pecting a  furious  fight,  when  a  gurgly,  rumbly 
voice  called  out  of  the  darkness  to  the  right — 
"Children,  what  are  you  fighting  about  there? 
Be  quiet." 

Both  beasts  dropped  down  with  a  snort  of  dis- 
gust, for  neither  horse  nor  mule  can  bear  to  listen 
to  an  elephant's  voice. 

"  It  's  Two  Tails  !  "  said  the  troop-horse.  "  I 
can't  stand  him.     A  tail  at  each  end  is  n't  fair !  " 

"My  feelings  exactly,"  said  Billy,  crowding 
into  the  troop-horse  for  company.  "  We  're  very 
alike  in  some  things." 

"  I  suppose  we  've  inherited  them  from  our 
mothers,"  said  the  troop-horse.  "  It  's  not  worth 
quarreling  about.  Hi !  Two  Tails,  are  you  tied 
up  r 

"  Yes,"  said  Two  Tails,  with  a  laugh  all  up  his 
trunk.  "  I  'm  picketed  for  the  night.  I  've  heard 
what  you  fellows  have  been  saying.  But  don't 
be  afraid.      I  'm  not  coming  over." 

The  bullocks  and  the  camel  said,  half  aloud; 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  287 

"  Afraid  of  Two  Tails  —  what  nonsense  !  "  And 
the  bullocks  went  on :  "  We  are  sorry  that  you 
heard,  but  it  is  true.  Two  Tails,  why  are  you 
afraid  of  the  guns  when  they  fire  ? " 

"  Well,"  said  Two  Tails,  rubbing  one  hind  leg 
against  the  other,  exactly  like  a  little  boy  saying 
a  piece,  "  I  don't  quite  know  whether  you  'd 
understand." 

"We  don't,  but  we  have  to  pull  the  guns," 
said  the  bullocks. 

"  I  know  it,  and  I  know  you  are  a  good  deal 
braver  than  you  think  you  are.  But  it  's  differ- 
ent with  me.  My  battery  captain  called  me  a 
Pachydermatous    Anachronism   the   other   day." 

"That  's  another  way  of  fighting,  I  suppose?" 
said  Billy,  who  was  recovering  his  spirits. 

"  You  don't  know  what  that  means,  of  course, 
but  I  do.  It  means  betwixt  and  between,  and 
that  is  just  where  I  am.  I  can  see  inside  my 
head  what  will  happen  when  a  shell  bursts ; 
and   you    bullocks    can't." 

"I  can,"  said  the  troop-horse.  "At  least  a 
little  bit.      I  try  not  to  think  about  it." 

"  I  can  see  more  than  you,  and  I  do  think 
about  it.  I  know  there  's  a  great  deal  of  me  to 
take  care  of,  and  I  know  that  nobody  knows  how 
to  cure  me  when  I  'm  sick.     All  they  can  do  is  to 


288  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

stop  my  driver's  pay  till  I  get  well,  and  I  can't 
trust  my  driver." 

"Ah!"  said  the  troop-horse.  "That  explains 
it.      I  can  trust  Dick." 

"  You  could  put  a  whole  regiment  of  Dicks  on 
my  back  without  making  me  feel  any  better.  I 
know  just  enough  to  be  uncomfortable,  and  not 
enough  to  go  on  in  spite  of  it." 

"  We  do  not  understand,"  said  the  bullocks. 

"  I  know  you  don't.  I  'm  not  talking  to  you. 
You  don't  know  what  blood  is." 

"We  do,"  said  the  bullocks.  "  It  is  red  stuff 
that  soaks  into  the  ground  and  smells." 

The  troop-horse  gave  a  kick  and  a  bound  and 
a  snort. 

"  Don't  talk  of  it,"  he  said.  "  I  can  smell  it 
now,  just  thinking  of  it.  It  makes  me  want  to 
run — when  I  have  n't  Dick  on  my  back." 

"  But  it  is  not  here,"  said  the  camel  and  the 
bullocks.      "  Why  are  you  so  stupid  ?  " 

"  It  's  vile  stuff,"  said  Billy.  "  I  don't  want  to 
run,  but  I  don't  want  to  talk  about  it." 

"  There  you  are  !  "  said  Two  Tails,  waving  his 
tail  to  explain. 

"  Surely.  Yes,  we  have  been  here  all  night," 
said  the  bullocks. 

Two  Tails  stamped  his  foot  till  the  iron  ring 


HER   MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS  289 

on  it  jingled.  "Oh,  I  'm  not  talking  to  you. 
You  can't  see  inside  your  heads." 

"  No.  We  see  out  of  our  four  eyes,"  said  the 
bullocks.      "  We  see  straight  in  front  of  us." 

"  If  I  could  do  that  and  nothing  else  you 
would  n't  be  needed  to  pull  the  big  guns  at  all. 
If  I  was  like  my  captain — he  can  see  things 
inside  his  head  before  the  firing  begins,  and  he 
shakes  all  over,  but  he  knows  too  much  to  run 
away  —  if  I  was  like  him  I  could  pull  the  guns. 
But  if  I  were  as  wise  as  all  that  I  should  never  be 
here.  I  should  be  a  king  in  the  forest,  as  I  used 
to  be,  sleeping  half  the  day  and  bathing  when  I 
liked.      I  have  n't  had  a  good  bath  for  a  month." 

"  That 's  all  very  fine,"  said  Billy  ;  "  but  giving 
a  thing  a  long  name  does  n't  make  it  any  better." 

"  H'sh  !  "  said  the  troop-horse.  "  I  think  I  un- 
derstand what  Two  Tails  means." 

"You  '11  understand  better  in  a  minute,"  said 
Two  Tails  angrily.  "  Now,  just  you  explain  to 
me  why  you  don't  like  tkisf" 

He  began  trumpeting  furiously  at  the  top  of 
his  trumpet. 

"  Stop  that ! "  said  Billy  and  the  troop-horse 
together,  and  I  could  hear  them  stamp  and 
shiver.  An  elephant's  trumpeting  is  always 
nasty,   especially  on  a  dark  night. 


290  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

"I  sha'n't  stop,"  said  Two  Tails.  "Won't 
you  explain  that,  please?  Hhrrmph!  Rrrt! 
Rrrmph  /  Rrrhha  /  "  Then  he  stopped  sud- 
denly, and  I  heard  a  little  whimper  in  the  dark, 
and  knew  that  Vixen  had  found  me  at  last.  She 
knew  as  well  as  I  did  that  if  there  is  one  thing 
in  the  world  the  elephant  is  more  afraid  of  than 
another  it  is  a  little  barking  dog ;  so  she  stopped 
to  bully  Two  Tails  in  his  pickets,  and  yapped 
round  his  big  feet.  Two  Tails  shuffled  and 
squeaked.  "  Go  away,  little  dog ! "  he  said. 
"  Don't  snuff  at  my  ankles,  or  I  '11  kick  at  you. 
Good  little  dog  —  nice  little  doggie,  then!  Go 
home,  you  yelping  little  beast!  Oh,  why 
does  n't  some  one  take  her  away  ?  She  '11  bite 
me  in  a  minute." 

"  Seems  to  me,"  said  Billy  to  the  troop-horse, 
"  that  our  friend  Two  Tails  is  afraid  of  most 
things.  Now,  if  I  had  a  full  meal  for  every  dbg 
I  've  kicked  across  the  parade-ground,  I  should 
be  as  fat  as  Two  Tails  nearly." 

I  whistled,  and  Vixen  ran  up  to  me,  muddy  all 
over,  and  licked  my  nose,  and  told  me  a  long 
tale  about  hunting  for  me  all  through  the  camp. 
I  never  let  her  know  that  I  understood  beast 
talk,  or  she  would  have  taken  all  sorts  of  liber- 
ties.    So  I  buttoned  her  into  the  breast  of  my 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  291 

overcoat,  and  Two  Tails  shuffled  and  stamped 
and  growled  to  himself. 

"  Extraordinary  !  Most  extraordinary  !  "  he 
said.  "  It  runs  in  our  family.  Now,  where  has 
that  nasty  little  beast  gone  to  ? " 

I  heard  him  feeling  about  with  his  trunk. 

"  We  all  seem  to  be  affected  in  various  ways,"  he 
went  on,  blowing  his  nose.  "  Now,  you  gentlemen 
were  alarmed,  I  believe,  when  I  trumpeted." 

"  Not  alarmed,  exactly,"  said  the  troop-horse, 
"but  it  made  me  feel  as  though  I  had  hornets 
where  my  saddle  ought  to  be.  Don't  begin 
again." 

"  I  'm  frightened  of  a  little  dog,  and  the  camel 
here  is  frightened  by  bad  dreams  in  the  night." 

"  It  is  very  lucky  for  us  that  we  have  n't  all  got 
to  fight  in  the  same  way,"  said  the  troop-horse. 

"What  I  want  to  know,"  said  the  young  mule, 
who  had  been  quiet  for  a  long  time — "what/ 
want  to  know  is,  why  we  have  to  fight  at  all." 

"  Because  we  are  told  to,"  said  the  troop-horse, 
with  a  snort  of  contempt. 

"  Orders,"  said  Billy  the  mule ;  and  his  teeth 
snapped. 

"  H u km  hai!"  (It  is  an  order),  said  the  camel 
with  a  gurgle ;  and  Two  Tails  and  the  bullocks 
repeated,  "HukmhaiJ" 


292  THE  JUNGLE  BOOK 

"  Yes,  but  who  gives  the  orders  ?  "  said  the  re- 
cruit-mule. 

"The  man  who  walks  at  your  head  — Or  sits  on 
your  back  —  Or  holds  the  nose-rope  —  Or  twists 
your  tail,"  said  Billy  and  the  troop-horse  and  the 
camel  and  the  bullocks  one  after  the  other. 

"  But  who  gives  them  the  orders  ? " 

"  Now  you  want  to  know  too  much,  young 
un,"  said  Billy,  "  and  that  is  one  way  of  getting 
kicked.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  obey  the  man 
at  your  head  and  ask  no  questions." 

"  He  's  quite  right,"  said  Two  Tails.  "  I  can't 
always  obey,  because  I  'm  betwixt  and  between ; 
but  Billy  's  right.  Obey  the  man  next  to  you 
who  gives  the  order,  or  you  '11  stop  all  the  bat- 
tery, besides  getting  a  thrashing." 

The  gun-bullocks  got  up  to  go.  "  Morning  is 
coming,"  they  said.  "We  will  go  back  to  our 
lines.  It  is  true  that  we  see  only  out  of  our  eyes, 
and  we  are  not  very  clever ;  but  still,  we  are  the 
only  people  to-night  who  have  not  been  afraid. 
Good  night,  you  brave  people." 

Nobody  answered,  and  the  troop-horse  said, 
to  change  the  conversation,  "Where  's  that  little 
dog  ?     A  dog  means  a  man  somewhere  near." 

"  Here  I  am,"  yapped  Vixen,  "  under  the  gun 
tail  with  my  man.     You  big,   blundering  beast 


HER    MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  293 

of  a  camel  you,  you  upset  our  tent.     My  man  's 
very  angry." 

"  Phew  !  "  said  the  bullocks.  "  He  must  be 
white  ? " 

"  Of  course  he  is,"  said  Vixen.  "  Do  you 
suppose  I  'm  looked  after  by  a  black  bullock- 
driver  ?  " 

"Huah!  Ouach  J  Ugh  J"  said  the  bullocks 
"Let  us  get  away  quickly." 

They  plunged  forward  in  the  mud,  and  man- 
aged somehow  to  run  their  yoke  on  the  pole  of 
an  ammunition-wagon,  where  it  jammed. 

"Now  you  have  done  it,"  said  Billy  calmly. 
"  Don't  struggle.  You  're  hung  up  till  daylight. 
What  on  earth  's  the  matter  ?  " 

The  bullocks  went  off  into  the  long  hissing 
snorts  that  Indian  cattle  give,  and  pushed  and 
crowded  and  slued  and  stamped  and  slipped  and 
nearly  fell  down  in  the  mud,  grunting  savagely. 

"  You  '11  break  your  necks  in  a  minute,"  said 
the  troop-horse.  "  What  's  the  matter  with  white 
men?     I  live  with  'em." 

"  They — eat — us  !  Pull !  "  said  the  near  bul- 
lock :  the  yoke  snapped  with  a  twang,  and  they 
lumbered  off  together. 

I  never  knew  before  what  made  Indian  cattle 
so  afraid  of  Englishmen.     We  eat  beef — a  thing 


£94  THE   JUNGLE   BOOK 

that  no  cattle-driver  touches — and  of  course  the 
cattle  do  not  like  it. 

"  May  I  be  flogged  with  my  own  pad-chains  J 
Who  'd  have  thought  of  two  big  lumps  like  those 
losing  their  heads  ?  "  said  Billy. 

"  Never  mind.  I  'm  going  to  look  at  this  man. 
Most  of  the  white  men,  I  know,  have  things  in 
their  pockets,"  said  the  troop-horse. 

"  I  '11  leave  you,  them  I  can't  say  I  'm  over- 
fond  of  'em  myself.  Besides,  white  men  who 
have  n't  a  place  to  sleep  in  are  more  than  likely 
to  be  thieves,  and  I  Ve  a  good  deal  of  Govern- 
ment property  on  my  back.  Come  along,  young 
un,  and  we  '11  go  back  to  our  lines.  Good-night, 
Australia!  See  you  on  parade  to-morrow,  I  sup- 
pose. Good-night,  old  Hay-bale!  —  try  to  con- 
trol your  feelings,  won't  you  ?  Good-night,  Two 
Tails  !  If  you  pass  us  on  the  ground  to-morrow, 
don't  trumpet.      It  spoils  our  formation." 

Billy  the  mule  stumped  off  with  the  swagger- 
ing limp  of  an  old  campaigner,  as  the  troop- 
horse's  head  came  nuzzling  into  my  breast,  and 
I  gave  him  biscuits  ;  while  Vixen,  who  is  a  most 
conceited  little  dog,  told  him  fibs  about  the  scores 
of  horses  that  she  and  I  kept. 

"  I  'm  coming  to  the  parade  to-morrow  in  my 
dog-cart,"  she  said.      "Where  will  you  be?  " 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  295 

"  On  the  left  hand  of  the  second  squadron.  1 
set  the  time  for  all  my  troop,  little  lady,"  he  said 
politely.  "  Now  I  must  go  back  to  Dick.  My 
tail  's  all  muddy,  and  he  '11  have  two  hours'  hard 
work  dressing  me  for  the  parade." 

The  big  parade  of  all  the  thirty  thousand  men 
was  held  that  afternoon,  and  Vixen  and  I  had  a 
good  place  close  to  the  Viceroy  and  the  Amir  of 
Afghanistan,  with  his  high  big  black  hat  of  astra- 
khan wool  and  the  great  diamond  star  in  the 
center.  Tne  first  part  of  the  review  was  all  sun- 
shine, and  the  regiments  went  by  in  wave  upon 
wave  of  legs  all  moving  together,  and  guns  all 
in  a  line,  till  our  eyes  grew  dizzy.  Then  the 
cavalry  came  up,  to  the  beautiful  cavalry  cantei 
of  "  Bonnie  Dundee,"  and  Vixen  cocked  her  ear 
where  she  sat  on  the  dog-cart  The  second 
squadron  of  the  lancers  shot  by,  and  there  was 
the  troop-horse,  with  his  tail  like  spun  silk,  his 
head  pulled  into  his  breast,  one  ear  forward  and 
one  back,  setting  the  time  for  all  his  squadron, 
his  legs  going  as  smoothly  as  waltz-music.  Then 
the  big  guns  came  by,  and  I  saw  Two  Tails  and 
two  other  elephants  harnessed  in  line  to  a  forty- 
pounder  siege-gun  while  twenty  yoke  of  oxen 
walked  behind.  The  seventh  pair  had  a  new 
yoke,  and    they    looked    rather   stiff  and   tired. 


29b  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

Last  came  the  screw-guns,  and  Billy  the  mule 
carried  himself  as  though  he  commanded  all  the 
troops,  and  his  harness  was  oiled  and  polished 
till  it  winked.  I  gave  a  cheer  all  by  myself  for 
Billy  the  mule,  but  he  never  looked  right  or  left. 

The  rain  began  to  fall  again,  and  for  a  while  it 
was  too  misty  to  see  what  the  troops  were  doing. 
They  had  made  a  big  half-circle  across  the  plain, 
and  were  spreading  out  into  a  line.  That  line 
grew  and  grew  and  grew  till  it  was  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  long  from  wing  to  wing — one  solid 
wall  of  men,  horses,  and  guns.  Then  it  came  on 
straight  toward  the  Viceroy  and  the  Amir,  and 
as  it  got  nearer  the  ground  began  to  shake, 
like  the  deck  of  a  steamer  when  the  engines 
are   going   fast. 

Unless  you  have  been  there  you  cannot 
imagine  what  a  frightening  effect  this  steady 
come-down  of  troops  has  on  the  spectators,  even 
when  they  know  it  is  only  a  review.  I  looked 
at  the  Amir.  Up  till  then  he  had  not  shown  the 
shadow  of  a  sign  of  astonishment  or  anything 
else ;  but  now  his  eyes  began  ^.o  get  bigger  and 
bigger,  and  he  picked  up  the  reins  on  his  horse's 
neck  and  looked  behind  him.  For  a  minute  it 
seemed  as  though  he  were  going  to  draw  his 
sword  and  slash  his  way  out  through  the  English 


"THEN    I     HEARD    AN    OLD,    GRIZZLED,  LONG-HAIRED,  CENTRAL    ASIAN 
CHIEF    ASKING    QUESTIONS    OF    A    NATIVE    OFFICER." 


HER   MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  299 

men  and  women  in  the  carriages  at  the  back. 
Then  the  advance  stopped  dead,  the  ground 
stood  still,  the  whole  line  saluted,  and  thirty 
bands  began  to  play  all  together.  That  was  the 
end  of  the  review,  and  the  regiments  went  off  to 
their  camps  in  the  rain ;  and  an  infantry  band 
struck  up  with  — 

The  animals  went  in  two  by  two, 

Hurrah ! 
The  animals  went  in  two  by  two, 
The  elephant  and  the  battery  mu- 
1',  and  they  all  got  into  the  Ark, 
For  to  get  out  of  the  rain  ! 

Then  I  heard  an  old,  grizzled,  long-haired 
Central  Asian  chief,  who  had  come  down  with 
the  Amir,   asking   questions   of  a  native  officer. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  in  what  manner  was  this 
wonderful  thing  done  ?  " 

And  the  officer  answered,  "  There  was  an  or- 
der,  and   they  obeyed." 

"But  are  the  beasts  as  wise  as  the  men?" 
said   the   chief. 

"  They  obey,  as  the  men  do.  Mule,  horse, 
elephant,  or  bullock,  he  obeys  his  driver,  and  the 
driver  his  sergeant,  and  the  sergeant  his  lieuten- 
ant, and  the  lieutenant  his  captain,  and  the  cap- 


3oo  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

tain  his  major,  and  the  major  his  colonel,  and  the 
colonel  his  brigadier  commanding  three  regi- 
ments, and  the  brigadier  his  general,  who  obeys 
the  Viceroy,  who  is  the  servant  of  the  Empress. 
Thus  it  is  done." 

"  Would  it  were  so  in  Afghanistan  !  "  said  the 
chief;    "for  there  we  obey  only  our  own  wills." 

"And  for  that  reason,"  said  the  native  officer, 
twirling  his  mustache,  "your  Amir  whom  you  do 
not  obey  must  come  here  and  take  orders  from 
our  Viceroy." 


PARADE-SONG    OF   THE    CAMP   ANIMALS 

ELEPHANTS    OF   THE   GUN-TEAM 

We  lent  to  Alexander  the  strength  of  Hercules, 

The  wisdom  of  our  foreheads,  the  cunning  of  our  knees; 

We  bowed  our  necks  to  service;  they  ne'er  were  loosed 

again, — 
Make  way  there,  way  for  the  ten-foot  teams 
Of  the  Forty-Pounder  train ! 

GUN-BULLOCKS 

Those  heroes  in  their  harnesses  avoid  a  cannon-ball, 
And  what  they  know  of  powder  upsets  them  one  and  all ; 


HER    MAJESTY'S   SERVANTS  301 

Then  we  come  into  action  and  tug  the  guns  again,— 
Make  way  there,  way  for  the  twenty  yoke 
Of  the  Forty-Pounder  train  ! 

CAVALRY  HORSES 

By  the  brand  on  my  withers,  the  finest  of  tunes 
Is  played  by  the  Lancers,  Hussars,  and  Dragoons, 
And  it 's  sweeter  than  "  Stables  "  or  "Water"  to  me. 
The  Cavalry  Canter  of  "  Bonnie  Dundee  "  ! 

Then  feed  us  and  break  us  and  handle  and  groom, 
And  give  us  good  riders  and  plenty  of  room, 
And  launch  us  in  column  of  squadrons  and  see 
The  way  of  the  war-horse  to  "  Bonnie  Dundee  " ! 

SCREW-GUN   MULES 

As  me  and  my  companions  were  scrambling  up  a  1 1  i  1 1 3 
The  path  was  lost  in  rolling  stones,  but  we  went  for. 

ward  still ; 
For  we  can  wriggle  and  climb,  my  lads,  and  turn  up 

everywhere, 
And  it  's  our  delight  on  a  mountain  height,  with  a  leg 

or  two  to  spare  ! 

Good  luck  to  every  sergeant,  then,  that  lets  us  pick 

our  road ; 
Bad  luck  to  all  the  driver-men  that  cannot  pack  a  load  : 


S02  THE  JUNGLE   BOOK 

For  we  can  wriggle  and  climb,  my  lads,  and  turn  up 

everywhere, 
And  it  's  our  delight  on  a  mountain  height  with  a  leg  of 

two  to  spare  ! 

COMMISSARIAT   CAMELS 

We  have  n't  a  camelty  tune  of  our  own 

To  help  us  trollop  along, 

But  every  neck  is  a  hairy  trombone 

(Rtt-ta-ta-ta  !  is  a  hairy  trombone  !) 

And  this  is  our  marching  song: 

Can't!     Don't!     Shan't!      Won't/ 

Pass  it  along  the  line  ! 

Somebody's  pack  has  slid  from  his  back, 

Wish  it  were  only  mine  ! 

Somebody's  load  has  tipped  off  in  the  road 

Cheer  for  a  halt  and  a  row  ! 

Urrr  !      Yarrh  !      Grr !     Arrh  J 

Somebody  's  catching  it  now ! 

ALL   THE   BEASTS   TOGETHER 

Children  of  the  Camp  are  we, 
Serving  each  in  his  degree; 
Children  of  the  yoke  and  goad, 
Pack  and  harness,  pad  and  load. 
See  our  line  across  the  plain, 
Like  a  heel-rope  bent  again. 
Reaching,  writhing,  rolling  far> 
Sweeping  all  away  to  war ! 


HER    MAJESTY'S    SERVANTS  303 

While  the  men  that  walk  beside, 
Dusty,  silent,  heavy-eyed, 
Cannot  tell  why  we  or  they 
March  and  suffer  day  by  day. 

Children  of  the  Camp  are  we, 

Serving  each  in  his  degree  ; 

Children  of  the  yoke  and  goad, 

Pack  and  harness,  pad  and  load. 


[Twenty 'Fifth  Edition] 


"  The  Jungle  Book  of  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling  has  won  a 
well-nigh  universal  audience  .  .  .  and  bids  fair,  with 
The  Second  Jungle  Book  ...  to  take  its  place  on  the 
high,  narrow  shelf  of  everlasting  works." — The  Bookman, 


THE  SECOND 
JUNGLE  BOOK 

Br 
RUDYARD  KIPLING 

"  It  would  take  too  long  to  enumerate  the  half  of  the  marvelous  touches 
by  which  the  creatures  miscalled  dumb  are  made  to  live  for  us  by  Rudyard 
Kipling.  .  .  .  The  saddest  words  of  this  volume  are  those  with  which  it 
closes,  'And  this  is  the  last  of  the  Mowgli  stories  '." — Vogue. 

"  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  no  other  writer  of  this  generation  (and  probably 
none  of  this  century)  ever  added  so  much  to  his  fame  ...  by  his  first 
venture  into  an  absolutely  new  field  as  did  Kipling  with  his  Jungle  stories. 
Indeed  there  have  been  few  such  Columbian  discoveries  in  modern  literature, 
anyhow,  as  this  landfall  of  a  whole  new  continent  of  fiction." — Charles  F. 
Lummis,  in  '  Land  and  Wave.' 

"  The  gift  of  writing  for  children  is  an  unaccountable  one,  bestowed 
erratically  and  falling  in  unexpected  places.  Mr.  Kipling  has  it  in  the  fullest 
measure.  .  .  .  Certainly  the  Jungle  stones  have  never  been  approached 
in  excellence  by  any  other  of  his  prose  tales.  The  field  is  all  his  own,  and 
he  is  safe  even  from  imitators." — San  Francisco  Argonaut. 

"A  pure  outburst  of  genius." — The  New  York  Times. 

12mo,  324  pages,  uniform  with    "The  Jungle  Book";   price  $1.50.      Pocket 

edition:  Printed  on   thin  but  opaque  paper,   and  bound  in  red, 

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[  Twenty  =Seco nd  Editio n  ] 


"  As  inspiring  as  a  sea  voyage." —  The  New  York 

Times. 


CAPTAINS 
COURAGEOUS 

BY 

RUDYARD  KIPLING 

This  is  Mr.  Kipling's  first  long  American  story,  and  perhaps  it  will  be 
his  only  one  in  that  class.  It  deals  with  the  experiences  of  the  son  of  a 
Western  multi-millionaire.  He  is  a  boy  of  only  fifteen  years,  but  he  has 
been  spoiled  by  a  doting  and  indulgent  mother.  He  is  swept  by  a  wave 
from  the  deck  of  an  Atlantic  liner,  and  is  picked  up  by  the  crew  of  a  fishing 
vessel  on  the  Grand  Banks.  The  captain  of  the  smack  is  a  typical  Yankee 
skipper,  who  ridicules  his  story  of  wealth  and  prominence,  and  forces  him  to 
work  his  way  until  the  cruise  is  ended.  After  a  false  start  or  two  the  boy 
faces  the  situation  with  true  American  pluck.  His  months  of  continual 
hardship  on  the  little  vessel  and  in  the  dories,  and  his  association  with  the 
rugged,  sturdy  fishermen,  develop  the  latent  manliness  in  his  character.  The 
book  is  full  of  the  breezy  romance  of  the  sea,  and  the  adventures  are  stirring 
and  thrilling.  It  is  the  most  vivid  picture  of  life  on  the  Grand  Banks,  with 
its  perils  and  its  tragedies,  that  has  ever  been  drawn.  It  has  one  trait  noted 
in  other  books  by  Mr.  Kipling  :  it  appeals  with  equal  force  to  young  and  old. 

"  The  most  vivid  and  picturesque  treatment  of  New  England  fishermen 
that  has  yet  been  made." — The  Atlantic  Monthly. 

12mo,   323  pages,  illustrated;  price   $1.50.     Pocket  edition:    Printed  on   thin 
but  opaque  paper  and  bound  in  red,   flexible  leather;  price  $1.75 


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